Question Number: 28071

Law 11 - Offside 12/21/2013

RE: Rec Adult

Russell Montgomery of north sydney, nsw Australia asks...

I struggle to accept why a PIOP is considered to be offside when a defender who deliberately makes a play at the ball but however does not control the ball and therefore resulting in the ball going to a PIOP - why is the player offside.
The defender has deliberately played the ball, irrespective of how successfully they 'played' the ball.
If a defender deliberately attempts to head a ball to a safe area, but they end up mis-directing it to a PIOP - the offside is negated. But if the defender deliberately attempts the same head to safety, however, it skims off their head to PIOP - the offside in enforced. What is the difference - in both instances, the defender has deliberately played the ball - just with different degrees of success!

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
In the two examples you cite there is a difference. In the first situation the player has deliberately played the ball whereas in the 2nd sitaution the player has attempted to play the ball but it has deflected off him. Obviously the law makers want to limit the ways a player can be called offside.
Have a look at this scenario
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video007.html
The Red defender has attempted to play the ball but it has deflected off him to the PIOP.
Now compare that to
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video008.html
In this situation the defender has played the ball not deflected it and as a result offside has been reset.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Russell, as you likely know, the new definition is:

"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.

Part of the problem is that IFAB didn't define what 'played' means. I believe they infer this by point ii - a save is a deliberate play, but they don't want that to reset offside. So they are not saying every deliberate play resets offside. While they don't use the word control, it is implied that there must be control or else it is a deflection.