Question Number: 26634

Law 11 - Offside 8/16/2012

RE: Class 1 Adult

wayne oldham of Perth, Western Australia Australia asks...

At a law lecture last night a question was put up and there was a degree of conjecture amongst those in attendance , if a player is in an offside position and a player from his own team in his half of play plays the ball and the player who was in the other half , in an offside position at the time comes back to his half to play the ball , is he deemed offside ? If so where is the free kick taken from ?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

The law is very clear on this - offside position is considered the moment the ball is last touched or played by a teammate, and there's no way a player can put himself back onside.

So you would definitely penalise the player, and I have done so a number of times (of course people will complain, but you get that!).

I would typically place the free kick where the player initially was when the ball was touched by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Wayne
The main condition of an offside offence happened at the moment the ball was touched / played by the player's team mate which was the player being in an offside position in the attacking half.
For the offence to be called the player in an offside position had to meet another condition which is to either interfere with play or with an opponent. It just so happened that the interfering with play condition of playing the ball by the player in an offside position in your scenario happened in an onside position. The indirect free kick is taken from where the player was (in an offside position) when the ball was played by his team mate which is in the attacking half.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

A player who is in offside position cannot do anything to make herself onside - - including moving to a position in her own half of the field. Once a player in offside position interferes with play by touching the ball, the infringement must be called. The restart is where the player was located when the ball last last touched by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

There should be no degree of conjecture amongst referees on this. The position that matters is where the player was when the ball was played by a teammate. The player was in an offside position when the ball was played by his teammate. He cannot put himself onside and may not actively participate in play until offside resets.
In your question, the player IS offside and the restart is from where he was when the ball was played.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 26658