Question Number: 26886

Law 11 - Offside 10/6/2012

RE: Competitive College

Jose Almario of Sta Rosa, Laguna Philippines asks...

My Question is about offside, Player A and B are both teammates, and Player C is a defensive player and 2nd Last Man after the Goal Keeper, Player A attempts to pass the ball to player B whereby he his on Offside Position, Player C a defensive player was able to deflect and control the ball from the Pass of Player A, Player B from the Offside Position was able to Stole the ball from Player B and was able to Shoot the ball, does this consider offside?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jose
The answer lies in the amount of control and time Defender C had on the ball. There are only three ways offside can be reset.
1. The ball goes out of play
2. The opponents gain complete control of the ball without interference from the player in an offside position.
3. A player in an onside begins a new phase of play.
In this scenario it is considered under No 2. Now the question the referee has to ask is whether control was complete and Player C moved away unchallenged by Player B. If there is little control of the ball by Player C and Player B who was in an offside position interferes with the opponent then that should be called offside.
In a general sense from your description I believe it is offside as in these situations the defender rarely has time or complete control and certainly not enough when the player can be 'challenged' almost immediately by the player in an offside position. At higher skill levels Player C would more than likely not give an opponent the opportunity to challenge and then offside does not arise as the ball is cleared with play continuing.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

These scenarios are difficult. If the offside attacker challenges the defender immediately after he gains control of the ball, then there's a valid case for determining that the player has interfered with an opponent.

Sometimes we need to take the match into consideration though, and it can become a judgement call.