Question Number: 27918

Law 11 - Offside 10/22/2013

RE: Adult

Tony of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 27898

Thanks for your reply. I am still confused. Where do these videos come from as they are not on the FIFA site?

In Video 4 the defender does seem to make an attempt to deliberately play the ball. He kicks at it very late as the ball is coming to him quickly and it goes between his legs and so I can accept that this could be interpreted as a deflection and so offside is NOT reset. However I can see this going either way with referees.

In video 5 the defender makes an attempt to deliberately play the ball (he sticks his leg out) but the ball deflects off his outstretched leg as he has not quite got the reach and so deflects to an attacker in an offside position. There certainly is no CONTROL in video 5. Nevertheless under the new interpretation play resets so NOT offside.

In Video 3 the defender deliberately plays the ball with his head. It is too high for him to CONTROL but he does make contact. So under the new interpretation play resets so NOT offside. Even if there was a glance off the top of his head as long as the defender tried to make the header- offside would be reset under the new interpretation.

The laws now tell us if a defender deliberately plays the ball offside is reset. Once again this is reinforced by the fact that the laws have spelt out that the keeper is exempt.

Can I have your opinions on my video interpretation and why does the panel still believe that control is a must when Video 5 and Video 3 show that there is no control? They are also not controlled passes that go astray. They are however a deliberate play for the ball.

This does make it easier as we dont have to judge whether the ball is "controlled" " a word not mentioned in the LOTG.

Thanks in anticipation for your detailed responses.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tony
It would appear that these videos were provided to senior group referees and probably to senior officials. Jos? Mar?a Garc?a-Aranda Encinar who at one time was Head of Refereeing in FIFA and is now a sports consultant and the videos are posted on his personal site. He probably still has access to materials etc from former colleagues.
In Video 3 and 5 there is deliberate plays of the ball and while the ball does not go where intended there is control which deems to reset the offside.