Question Number: 25066

Law 11 - Offside 6/6/2011

RE: Youth Travel Soccer Other

ED of Woodbury, CT USA asks...

We have some ARs/coaches disagreeing with the 'at the time of the kick' terminology in the offside rule. Two questions:

1) If offensive players are onside during a free kick or a kick upfield by a teammate during live action, and they break toward the goal by the defenders as the kick is taken, with the ball not yet passing overhead, are they still onside?

2) Depending on the answer to part 1, for an offside trap to work, would the defenders have to step forward to place the offense offside before the ball is struck?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ed
The key moment is the instant the ball is kicked or touched. So the referee takes a snapshot of positions at that very instant.
1. The defining moment here is the instant of the kick. if the players are in an onside position at the moment of the kick they cannot be called offside even if the run forward into an offside position while the ball is in the air.
2. For the offside trap to work the defending team must place the player that interferes with play in an offside position at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

A successful trap requires the defenders to step up BEFORE the ball is kicked.
Where the forwards are located when the ball arrives is irrelevant. The critical question is whether they were in an offside position when the ball was last touched by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

1. No AR should get this wrong. At the time of the kick means exactly that. Offside is judged at the moment the ball is touched or played by a teammate. Any player that is in an onside position at the moment the ball is touched or played by a teammate is free to play the ball regardless where they may be when they play the ball. An onside attacker may collect and play the ball 30 yards behind the next to last opponent as long as he was onside when the ball was played.

2. Yes