Question Number: 27892

Law 11 - Offside 10/15/2013

RE: Comp Under 17

Mike Stephen of Sacramento, CA USA asks...

Ref's have told me that they will not call Offside until the offending player touches the ball -- regardless of whether or not the player makes a run for the ball.

We had a case where the player was clearly offside (our defense was on the other side of the half) when a through-ball was kicked. The Asst Ref ran with the player all the way to the corner where the player touched the ball. Offsides was then called and we got free kick ....... all the way back at our corner!?

IS the new interpretation really that the player must physically touch the ball? If this is now the case, wouldn't the free kick be from where the initial infraction occured -- the original offside position when the ball was kicked?

This seems to be a pretty big departure from the simple playing the ball (not necessarily touching) and/or interfering in the play.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The interpretation is 'wait and see'. So yes, sometimes we have to wait until the offside-positioned player runs all the way down to the corner to play the ball.

But the location of the restart is back up near half where his offside position was established. That has not changed.

Here are the definitions from IFAB, found in the Interpretations and Guidance section of the Laws of the Game:

---------
? "interfering with play" means playing or touching the ball passed or
touched by a team-mate
? "interfering with an opponent" means preventing an opponent from
playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's
line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball
? "gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball
i. that rebounds or is deflected to him off the goalpost, crossbar or an
opponent having been in an offside position
ii. that rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save
by an opponent having been in an offside position
A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who
deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered
to have gained an advantage.
-------

If the attacker does not play the ball, and does not interfere with an opponent, there is no offside offense.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
It has been this way since Law 11 was changed in 2005. So the requirement has been that the player must touch the ball to interfere with play. Now initially this caused problems in implementation as there were times when it was absolutely certain that the player in an offside position was going to play the ball. IFAB shortly after the Law was changed introduced an amendment Circular 987 which has been part of the Law 11 since October which states
'' A player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or
touching the ball, if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an
onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.''
That allows the AR to flag for offside in teh case of the lone player running after the ball and there is no possibility of an onside team mate playing the ball. Unfortubately it has been over-used to the point that many believe that there has been no change to Law 11.
In your example perhaps the offside could have been called earlier ? and certainly there was an error in the location of the IDFK as it should have been brought back up to the point of the offside infraction not where the ball was touched.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Mike,

Believe me, this is frustrating when I'm on the line as well.
I've had to run alongside an offside player for 20-30 yards on several occasions, waiting for him to touch the ball, simply because there was also an onside player nearby running along (and the offside player wasn't interfering with an opponent).

In situations where only the offside player can get the ball, and it seems likely he will get the ball (eg not a scenario where the player has no chance of reaching the ball before it goes out), then the referee can blow the whistle early. This is to prevent some situation that are obviously ridiculous.

The Law 11 changes were designed, amongst other things, to prevent referees from penalising players the moment they start running for the ball (as this was a fairly common interpretation of Law 11, though not the only one!). Unless the player actually gets involved in play (in several methods defined in the laws), then let's not penalise him just for running for the ball. Then it went a little too far where referees couldn't penalise a player even if nobody else was running for the ball and he had to run 40 yards to get the ball, so Circular 987 tried to rectify those situations where it's obvious the player is going to get involved, so what's the point in waiting?

If there's a chance an onside player may get the ball instead then the referee should wait and see. If it looks like the ball is going to go out instead then the referee generally shouldn't penalise.

'Interfering with play' is still defined as 'touching or playing a ball', and not every referee is aware of those additional interpretations/circulars, so that may be where the misinterpretation comes from.