Question Number: 26201

Law 11 - Offside 4/17/2012

RE: travel Under 11

Marc Harden of deptford, nj usa asks...

I was talking to my coach about an interesting scenrio that could come up. If our goalie handles the ball kicked by a teammate inside her own goal area it is an indirect free kick on the 6yrd line.

If the defending team decided to move all of its players down towards the halfway line does that make the kicker on the attacking team kick the ball halfway across the field to the defending area.

The ball has to be touched by another player before it can be scored and if one of the attacking players teammate is next to them to recieve a pass they are closer to the goal then 2nd to last defender.
If this is an offside play it would make sense for every defending team on an indirect inside the penalty area to do this.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Marc
The myths that offside does not apply when all the defending opponents are in the other half or that attacking players must have a 2nd opponent between them and the goal line as the only way to be in an onside position.
I'm not sure where these myths came from but they are totally erroneous. Offside applies at all times in the opponents' half of the field of play no matter where the defenders are positioned and offside position is determined by the position of the attacking player relative to both the ball and the second last opponent. The key word is both not just the defenders' positions but also the position relative to the ball
So any attacking player positioned behind the ball no matter where the defenders are is not in an offside position and that player can participate in active play.
So in your scenario all the attacking team has to do is place a player just behind the ball and when it is kicked in any direction that player can participate in play as he is not in an offside position behind the ball.
If the attacking team was stupid enough to place a player ahead of the ball in your scenario then he is in offside position so when the ball is played to him and touched by that player he would be called offside.
I recall two seasons ago in a game a GK touched the ball with his hands after a deliberate kick to him by a team mate. The GK tried to argue the award of the IDFK with me and an opponent grabbed the ball from him, placed it on the ground and took a QFK. The mistake that the attacking team made was that the ball was passed to an attacker who was ahead of the ball which then resulted in an flag for offside by the AR with an award of an IDFK for offside. Had the scorer placed himself behind the ball then the goal would have been awarded.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

To be in an offside position, the 2nd attacker not only needs to be past the 2nd last line of defence, but also in front of the ball.

So, in the situation you describe, the teammate simply needs to ensure that no part of his body (excluding the arms) is in front of the ball, and then he won't be in an offside position.