Question Number: 28183

Law 11 - Offside 2/17/2014

RE: Rec and Travel

Dave of Fairfax, VA United States asks...

Law 11 - Position of the IDK for offside offense.
Scenario: 2 players from Team A are on Team B's half of the field, but near the halfway line; player A1 is in an offside position and A2 is in an onside position. A teammate from Team A plays a through ball and both A1 and A2 chase the ball, both have a chance to play it (so allow play to continue). If A2 (onside player) plays the ball, no offense for offside; if A1 (offside player) plays the ball, offside is called. My question is, where did the 'infringement occur'? Should the IFK to Team B be near the halfway line (position of A1 at time of the kick) or where A1 'interfered with play' further down the field.

I believe the correct answer is to award the IFK back near the halfway line, but you never see an AR signal for offside and then run back up the field to a previous position.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dave
Your answer is correct. The location of the IDFK is from the position of A1 at the time of the kick not from where he interfered with play.
Generally most interfering with play or an opponent happens quite close to the player's initial offside location so there is no need for the AR to move back a significant distance. Where there is a significant difference the AR should move accordingly. Also teams are rarely bothered about the location of the IDFK as they are just content that the offside infraction is called.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

You are correct, the position of the restart is where the player was in an offside position at the time of the last touch/play of the ball by a teammate.

It works in both directions. A player in an offside position might run back quite a ways to interfere in play - perhaps even back across the half line - and the restart is way down where he was originally offside.