Question Number: 27757

Law 11 - Offside 9/13/2013

Paul of SMYRNA, GA usa asks...

This question is a follow up to question 27748

If you're only addressing the overall view of the question, 'does the same rule apply to a keeper's punt' then of course, the answer is NO, as you all have stated.
BUT, in this instance, I believe players can not be called as committing an offside infraction.
Re-read the scenario,
'Players are at mid-field, ball is punted, THEN players got behind the defenders. Sounds to me like they were on side --- either correct side of defenders or on their own half--- when the ball was punted, and only received the ball in the offside position.
No offside in this scenario.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Paul
The assumption was made regarding the question as to whether a player could be offside from a goalkeeper's punt not whether the player was in an offside position or not. Of course if the player was in an onside position when the ball was played then there cannot be offside, the same as in any other scenario.
It is a common misconception that offside does not apply to punts from the goalkeeper in the same way as from goal kicks.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Paul,

Good observation. I think we all assumed that the players were all in an offside position at the time of the punt then moved further upfield.

Goalkeeper punts are a funny one - often a striker may only be a few yards (or even feet!) offside, but is well onside by the time he gets the ball due to the time it spends in the air, generally causing quite a bit of outrage when the flag goes up. I do see AR's reluctant to call these ones, unfortunately.

Of course the opposite can occur - a player can sprint from onside and be 10-20 yards behind the defenders by the time he gets the ball (which is the moment when everybody else suddenly looks at him!)

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

That's NOT what the question said. It said 'DEFENDERS are at mid-field.' Didn't say where the attackers were when the ball was played by the keeper. They could have been in an offside position and that's what the question asked. They received the ball in an offside position and it's reasonable to assume the were in an offside position when the ball was played since that's what the poster wanted to know.