Question Number: 26273

Law 11 - Offside 4/30/2012

RE: AYSO, Competitive Under 15

Rajan of Van Nuys, California U.S.A. asks...

Player A for the Red team is in the offside position. A Red teammate in his own half of the field lofts/passes the ball to Player A however the pass is ahead of Player A and it is clear that the keeper for the Blue team will receive/control the ball inside his own penalty area without a threat from the approaching offside Player A of the Red team.
As the AR seeing that the keeper for the Blue team will easily get the ball, should I keep the flag down to let play continue(as I did)or should I flag the offside player to avoid a situation such as the keeper missing the ball resulting in a goal for the Red team.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Rajan:

The flag should stay down. First, until the player in offside position touches the ball, the player is not guilty of interfering with play. Second, if the keeper is able to see and play the ball, the player is offside position is not guilty of interfering with a defender.

My standard pregame ends : if you think there is any chance of a collision between the keeper and the player in offside position, raise the flag immediately. We don't need to wait for a player to be injured player before deciding that there has been interfering with a defender. But, otherwise, a slow and correct flag is better.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Rajan
It is not enough for the player to be in an offside position. The player must meet one of the conditions of offside for it to be called. The player must either interfere with play by touching the ball or interfere with an opponent.
So when the ball is clearly destined for the goalkeeper with no chance for the player in an offside position interfering with play or interfere with an opponent then the flag should stay down with play being allowed to continue.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You need to ask yourself; 'what has player A done to warrant an offside call?' Since the keeper will easily get the ball, A is not interfering with an opponent. Since he has not touched the ball he is not interfering with play.
No offside yet.