Question Number: 26631

Law 11 - Offside 8/15/2012

RE: Under 15

James of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 234

Hey i was wondering if u could refresh my memory of the ofside rule
thanks

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

James,
The best thing you can do when there's something in the laws (especially an entire law) that you're not certain on, is first refer to the laws of the game itself.
The more familiar you are with the book, the more confident and knowledgeable you'll be on the field.
In my early years of officiating, I used to revise one of the laws every weekend - either on Friday night, or in the referee's room prior to my matches Saturday morning. Even now, I review the laws when I know I'm getting a little hazy on something.
You local referees association should be able to provide a copy of the laws of the game, if they haven't already.
FIFA'ss laws of the game are available at http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/4/36/lawsofthegame_2011_12_en.pdf

- make sure you also go towards the back, in the 'additional advice' section. There is a lot more information in there.

They also have a fantastic flash animation which explains offside a little further:
www.fifa.com/lotg/football/en/flash/start.html

I would strongly recommend you start there, and very strongly recommend you try what I did and review a different law every weekend to increase your own familiarity with the laws. If you do this then it should help you to quickly stand out amongst your peers.

Any further questions then please, come back to us.

I will leave you with one thing that I don't think is specifically mentioned in the laws: Offside talks about 2nd last defender. Bear in mind that a keeper is just one of 11 players - this means that sometimes there may be a defender behind the keeper (on the post), in which case the keeper may then be the 2nd last defender - or perhaps not even that, if 2-3 defenders are behind him.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi James
On our opening page there is an article written on the subject of offside by our former editor Mr Chuck Fleischer, who sadly passed away a number of years ago. The link is on the right hand side of the page. The article is a concise, succinct brief on offside.
Offside questions are probably the most frequently asked question on the site so it is worthwhile reading all the questions posed by readers with the answers. Those match situation questions can be viewed by clicking the Offside link on the left hand side of the opening page.
Also Referee Wright has given you information on resources available elsewhere. I will add in this resource to the two he has given
http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_11_offside_en_47383.pdf