Question Number: 26633

Law 11 - Offside 8/15/2012

RE: competive Adult

rob of bristol, uk asks...

if a player is down injured and unable to play but in an offside position is he active?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Rob
Clearly when a player is down injured he is inactive and it is extremely unlikely that he will meet any of the conditions to be called offside such as interfering with play or interfering with an opponent. He can be called offside though if the ball hits him while on the ground or his position prevents an opponent moving to the ball. That would be indeed rare but can happen
However it does not work in favour of the defence as the assistant referee has to consider all defenders in his offsi?e calculation including those on the ground and those defenders off the field of play who are legally not entitled to be there. That might seem unfair but it is in place to prevent defenders from going down to ground when in an unfavourable position or moving off the field of play to place attackers in an offside position.
The referee has to consider why a player is down on the ground and whether it's serious or minor. On a serious injury play should be stopped so that the player can receive immediate treatment.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The laws of the game used to include a specific example where a player, in an offside position, was lying on the ground injured but was struck with the ball by a teammate's shot.

Offside would be the correct decision here.

Also, it may be that the injured player is in the way of a defender who is trying to reach the ball (say, the person being there unintentionally interferes with the keeper being able to reach for a shot) - in those cases you'd also penalise the player.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I remember an instructor saying many years ago if a player was lying dead on the ground and play had not been stopped, he could be penalized for offside if in an offside position when the ball was played by a teammate and the ball hit him.