Question Number: 26736

Law 11 - Offside 9/9/2012

RE: Travel Under 10

Marc Harden of deptford, nj usa asks...

During our u9 travel game today. We had one of our forwards take a shot in an onside position that hit off of the opposing teams goalies chest. The shot reflected to our other forward who was in an offside position who shot & scored.
The referee blew the whistle & called offside on our player that scored. We were told just b/c it hits off the goalie it not considered as being played by the opposing team so therefore it is offsides.
Whats the rule on something like that. Cause we teach our offensive players to crash the net on shots on goal to try & scored on reflections but if its offsides we will have to teach them otherwise.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Marc
There are three conditions in which a player in an offside position can be called offside. They are interfering with play, interfering with an opponent and gaining an advantage by being in that position.
"Gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position''
In your scenario the ball rebounded off the goalkeeper to the player in an offside position so the correct decision was made. Had the shot gone directly into the goal it was unlikely that the player in an offside position would be called for offside unless he was interfering with an opponent in this case perhaps the goalkeeper's line of sight to the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You better teach them the Offside Law first. If your attacker is in an offside position when his teammate takes a shot, he may not participate in play until offside resets. The ball bouncing off the keeper or being slapped by the keeper does not reset offside. For all practical purposes, offside resets when the ball goes out of play, or when the ball is touched or played by another teammate, or when the opponents CONTROL the ball.

Teach your players to stay onside until the ball is kicked. Then they may crash the net