Question Number: 24449

Law 11 - Offside 1/1/2011

RE: competitive High School

Mark Hubbard of Walnut Shade, MO USA asks...

I just watched Liverpool match in which a ball played forward deflected off a defender to a player in an offside position, who then scored. The announcers said repeatedly that because the ball last deflected off a defender it was not offside. Are they correct? I seem to remember being told that the ball just hitting off the defender does not put that player onside.
Thanks.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
Yet again an announcer that does not know the Laws. A deflection off a defender does not reset offside. However in this case I believe Joe Cole was onside when the original cross was played into the penalty area?. It is unclear if the ball was then played by a Liverpool player or a Bolton player. If it was a Bolton player then there was no offside. If the last touch came off the Liverpool player the goal might not have been allowed as Cole could have been in an offside position when the ball was played back across the goal area. Having looked at it a number of times I believe the referee crew got the correct decision by awarding the goal.
Offside is only reset when the defence gains control of the ball and a deflection/rebound or anything resembling same is not control of the ball. My definition of control is where a player moves the ball for a subsequent touch by that player or by a team mate.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

As a referee, Mark, try not to listen to announcers for information on the LOTG. There are some that are very knowledgeable, but they are few - generally, they have mostly a mythical view of the LOTG, meaning they get it wrong more often than right. If a referee missed as many calls as they do, s/he would not be long for the whistle.

A defender has to play the ball under control (this varies with age and skill level) in order for the play to reset the offside, or to free a player in an offside position to play the ball. This is not true if the ball is deflected from the defender or rebounds from them or even if it comes from a miskick - no control.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Mark, even British announcers, who one would think would know the rules of a game they invented, are among the most absolute ignorant people in the world when it comes to the Laws Of The Game. Of course they were wrong as they are 90% of the time. An opponent must control the ball before offside is reset.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Mark, you don't say whether or not offside was actually called. Did the goal count or not? Either way, I would expect that the referee crew at this level got the call correct, and the announcers did not. Referees are required to keep abreast of the Laws of the Game and recertify each year - a much harder process for refs who do top-level games than for those of us who do your bog-standard youth or amateur games. There is no such standard for announcers. Sometimes I think that they are hired to encourage controversy rather than fairly report on the game.

One situation in a professional-level game regarding a deflection: If the deflection was a header, at that high level, it is often considered to be control. Those players have such good skills that it is difficult to differentiate between a 'controlled deflection' and an uncontrolled one when the player heads the ball. So if the goal counted, the ref crew may have decided that the intervening touch was control. (That doesn't excuse the ignorant comments from the announcers, though; it isn't the touch that cancels offside but the header being considered a deliberate play.)