Question Number: 25734

Law 11 - Offside 11/10/2011

RE: Under 19

Pedro Matos of Lisbon, Lisbon Portugal asks...

To be in off side positioning is considered to be closer to the opponents goal line than the second last defender, considering all parts of the body excluding the arms, (due to the reason that he can not play the ball with arms or hands and obviously he has no advantage). For analysis of the offside is considered the body's of second last defendor (excluding the arms and hands due to the same reason that the defendor of those parts of his body he can't play).
Question: If the second last defender is the goalkeeper and once he is enable to play the ball in its own penalty box with his arms or hands, a forwarder placed closer the opponent goal keeper line than his de body but in line or not so closer of the goal keeper arms. Is this forwarder off side or not ?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Pedro
Interesting question and one that would relate to a rare enough event although it did happen in the game between Mexico and South Africa at the WC.
In reality the AR will have difficulty judging offside based on the movement of the goalkeeper's arms. Arms move all the time and the key element is the moment the ball is played. Arm position is very difficult to determine with certainty at speed without the use of technology. It can be argued that Law 11 excludes the arms with no written exception made for the goalkeeper. It could be argued to the contrary in the case of the goalkeeper yet in its on field application I would say that offside will be called if the forward looks closer in the customary application of offside with arms excluded . If there is any doubt offside should not be called.
The Mexico v South Africa offside correct call by the AR can be viewed here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK9OvAlAUVE

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Interesting question - I could foresee this being a genuine concern particularly if, say, the goalkeeper is lying on the ground with arms stretched out.

I would have to argue that we can count the goalkeepers arms for determining offside position, but don't get too carried away with trying to spot these tiny little things for the most part.