Question Number: 26055

Law 11 - Offside 3/11/2012

RE: Rec High School

John Cotton of Beulaville, North Carolina USA asks...

You have a attacker coming down the field, they pass the last defender and a team mate follows behind her past the defender. The first attacker passes the ball to the following attacker that is past the last defender. Is that an offside call?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Law 11 states:
A player is in an offside position if:
? he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the
second-last opponent

Note the 'and' in there. If he's nearer to the opponent's goal line than the second-last opponent but NOT the ball (as is the case in your scenario), then that player is not in an offside position.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
Is the following team mate ahead of the ball when it is played her? If the answer to that is no then the player is not in an offside position.
A player is in an offside position if she is nearer to her opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. As Referee Wright points out the key word in that Law 11 sentence is AND.
While the player is nearer to her opponents' goal line than the second last opponent (who is behind her), if she is not nearer the opponents' goal line than the ball then that player is not in an offside position and she may participate in active play. Move ahead of the ball in that position and she is in an offside position.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Nope. In order for a player to be judged offside, they must have been in an offside position when the ball was last touched or played by a teammate. Because in this situation, the offside line is moving with the ball, the following attacker was not closer to the goal than the ball when it was passed. The defenders do not enter into the equation here since an onside player carried the ball on past them, making the ball the point of reference for the offside line and decision.