Question Number: 28131

Law 11 - Offside 1/22/2014

RE: College

Harry of Changde, China asks...

In law 11 now, if a player makes a clear movement towards the ball, then touches it, and it's not rebound or deflection. This can be seen as 'deliberate play'.

My question is why at a FK, people in the 'wall' jump and touch the ball can it not be seen as 'deliberate play'?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Harry
It all depends on the control exerted by the jumping player on the ball. If the ball deflects / rebounds off the defending player it does not reset any offside offence.
Anyway it should not matter significantly in a defensive wall situation as if the attacker is in an onside position at the moment of the kick, the contact, controlled or otherwise, on the ball by the player in the wall makes no difference to the subsequent play. The receiving player will still be onside.
Now being in an offside position position before the kick at a free kick is not a good position to be in as without any contact by a defender the player will be called offside. If the player is relying on 'control' contact by the defender I would safely say that would rarely happen. Most teams expect no contact by the defending team and set up accordingly in an onside position.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Harry, what isn't clearly stated in the laws is precisely what a 'play' or 'rebound' is. If we consider the spirit of the law then it would seem unfair to effectively punish a defender for doing the right thing and attempting to stop a ball that goes past.

So, from that, it's safe to say that control is still important. There's a difference between deliberately playing the ball, and attempting to play the ball. Heading the ball back to your keeper is playing the ball. Jumping to head the ball and having it skim off the top of your head would be attempting to play the ball, which is why the ball skimming the head of a defender in the wall won't cancel the offside.