Question Number: 25451

Law 11 - Offside 9/18/2011

RE: Competetive Under 15

Jamie Jensen of Albany, CA USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 25423

a follow up to eternal discussions about offside: attacking is in offside position, near the far post, but not involved in play.

Ball is played in front of the near post, where a defender clear with his head, sending the ball sideways and backwards toward the far post where the attacking player (who had been in an offside position) nods it into the goal.

After the ball goes in the net, the AR flags for offside, saying attacker had gained advantage by being in offside position. But I award the goal, thinking a. he was not involved in play at the time his teammate kicked the ball forward,
and
b. when he scored, he was no longer offside because a defender played the ball to him.

Was I right, or should I have called him offside because of the previous circumstances? As you can imagine, this was more than a little controversial...

THANKS!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jamie
Unfortunately you were incorrect to overrule your assistant. The header by the defender as described did not reset the offside and the player in an offside position should have been called offside for gaining an advantage by being in that position.
"Gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.
Unless the header was controlled then it would be classed a rebound. Sideways and backwards to an opponent reads to me as not controlled.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Headers are the most difficult play to decide whether it was a controlled play or a rebound. If it was a rebound, offside is not reset, and the player is called offside because he gained an advantage from being in an offside position. If it was a controlled play, then offside has been reset and the attacker is not called offside because he received the ball from a deliberate controlled play of a defender. Things to think about when making this decision are the age and ability of the players. Did it appear the player wanted the ball to go in that direction, and could she have made it go that way if she wanted to? Even professional players sometimes make mistakes and head the ball in a haphazard direction, although mistakes by the pros are much less rare, and they often can make their deliberate plays look like mistakes if that is beneficial to them.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I agree with you. You were there. You saw the defenders play on the ball. You thought it was a controlled play by the defending team and since that is what you saw, offside reset at that moment and the attacking player is now free to play the ball as it was last played by an opponent as you state.

At U15 Competative, players have the skill to properly head the ball. Had this been U12 rec I would doubt this was a deliberate and controlled play of the ball. I would also say that even if the header did not go exactly where the player performing it intended, you still are within your rights to view it as a play on the ball. A ball ending up in an unanticipated location does not automatically negate the play on the ball making it a rebound or deflection.