Question Number: 23910

Law 11 - Offside 9/11/2010

RE: Rec Under 11

DougB of Irvine, Ca USA asks...

Offside question.

Attacking player A passes the ball to attacking player B with no defenders closer to the goal. This is a clear offside penalty.

Lets say attacker A is around the 30 yard mark, left side.

Lets say attacker B is around the 15 yard mark, midway across.

Attacker B receives the ball near the corner flag, and thus becomes active in the play, and thus the offside penalty.

I understand clearly that this is offside. My question is, where is the restart?

Is it where attacker B was when attacker A passed the ball (midfield near the 15) or where attacker B receives the ball (by the corner?)

Thanks,
DougB

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The restart is based on where the player in offside position was located at the time the teammate had touched the ball. In your case, where B was located when the pass began.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The IDFK is taken from where the player in an offside position was located when the ball was played to him not from where he touches the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Doug, as a referee you absolutely have to know Law 11 cold. Where is the restart? What does Law 11 tell us?

In the event of an offside offence, the referee awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred

Where is the infringement?

A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

This means the infringement occurs and the restart is where the offside positioned player was AT THE MOMENT THE BALL WAS TOUCHED OR PLAYED BY HIS TEAMMATE.

In your example the ball is played by A when B is 15 yards from the goal line. That's where the restart is from, not down near the corner flag where B collects the ball.

This is reiterated on page 101 in the current Interpretations section of the LOTG:

When an offside offence occurs, the referee awards an indirect free kick to be taken from the position of the offending player when the ball was last played to him by one of his team-mates.

I don't mean to be harsh but for you to ask this question means whomever taught the offside section of your certification course did a terrible job as this should have been drilled into you over and over and over Unfortunately, you are far from being alone as it seems many instructors have done a miserable job and we have a plethora of USSF referees poorly trained when considering offside

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 23969