Question Number: 24124

Law 11 - Offside 10/10/2010

RE: Tournament Under 15

Michael of Gilbert, SC USA asks...

I have two situation to discuss.
First you have a attacker closer to the Goal than the second last defender or the ball. The player is in an off side position that a given. You have a defender that strikes the ball uncontested or pressured to send the ball down field but it strikes a player and rebounds over the defender that kick the ball and the attacker that was in an off side position collects the ball and goes to goal.
Question 1# Should this attacker be call off sides?

Question 2# Dose it matter who the ball rebounded off? (attacker or a defender)

I read the Guide to procedures, LOTG (several versions USSF, FIFA, Advice to Referees but can't quite find the answer.) In the advice to referee page 42 11.6 'Gaining an advantage by being in an offside position' means playing a ball that rebounds to the player off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position. So this would indicate that this player should be penalized is this correct?
Thanks for clarification on this call.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

It depends entirely from which player the ball rebounded. If the ball last controlled and played by the defender then rebounds off of a defensive teammate, the attacker is not offside, since the ball he received was not last touched by a teammate.

If the ball last played and controlled by the defender then rebounds off a teammate of the attacker, the attacker in an offside position will be called for offside for interfering with play, because he played a ball from an offside position and that ball was last touched by a teammate.

Hope that clears it up for you?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Michael
In this case if the ball is last touched by a team mate of the PIOP then when the PIOP touches the ball he is called offside. So if the defender kicks the ball and it rebounds of an opponent and goes to his teammate who is in an offside position that is offside when it is touched by the PIOP. The touch / play does not have to be deliberate.
If it rebounds off a team mate of the defender from his kick and goes to the player in an offside position then that is not offside.
In the case of a ball that is played through to a PIOP by an attacker and it deflects/rebounds off an opponent/frame of the goal and it still makes it to the PIOP who touches the ball that is offside. a deflection/rebound off an opppent is not a reset as there is no control.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Michael, you are overthinking the situation and confusing yourself. Think back to your original training about offside. When is offside position determined? When the ball is played or touched by a teammate. That could be deliberate or not, it doesn't matter. That's why Law 11 says played or touched.

Rebounds/deflections only come into consideration when the ball bounces off an opponent (or the goal). If Red1 kicks the ball, it rebounds of Blue1, and it is played by Red2 who was in an offside position, that is still offside - the rebound doesn't cancel Red2's original 'offsided-ness'.

So the answer to your Q1 is that we don't know. We have to go to Q2, which does make a difference. If the player that the ball rebounded from was an attacker, then offfside does apply. If a defender - a teammate of the player who took the kick - then offside still does not apply to the attacker.

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

See Question: 24176