Question Number: 24763

Law 11 - Offside 4/3/2011

RE: Under 19

Steven of Sydney, Nsw Australia asks...

A attacker plays the ball to a player in a offside postion n a defender heads the ball n it goes behind him towards his goal n the player in the offside position plays the ball is it off?

I used to think it was cause it wasn't a controllled touch more .. But at a different level they said cause it had been played by the defender he is on ...
It seems unfair if it's onside . But different people have there own opinions .

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Steven
The key here is control of the ball to reset the offside. If the ball is deflected/rebounded then it is does not reset the offside and the example you cite should be called offside. For it to become not offside the ball would have to be a controlled pass/header that was misdirected to an opponent. That is indeed rare as most are deflections, rebounds or misplayed due to no control of the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

As you correctly point out, this will usually depend on the level of play and the opinion of the referee (actually, it ONLY depends on the opinion of the referee but the opinion will depend a great deal on the level of play).

At lower levels of play you will likely never see this as being an onside situation. At high levels of play, and I have seen this, many referees are of the opinion that these highly skilled players rarely, if ever, merely deflect a headed ball. Since they have exhibited control, offside resets and the offside positioned player is now onside as the ball has last been played by an opponent and offside is only considered when the ball has last been touched or played by a teammate.