Question Number: 28429

Law 11 - Offside 5/15/2014

RE: Competitive Under 14

Bill of Los Angeles, CA USA asks...

This question regards possession in one of the strangest offside trap situations I've seen.

Near the end of the game, the attacking team has a free kick perhaps ten yards into their defensive side of the pitch. The defensive team didn't set up a wall at all, but rather decided to 'hold the eighteen'.

The attacking players lined up at the top of the box with the defenders.

As the attacking kicker starts his approach, all the defenders except the goalie suddenly sprinted toward the ball, trapping all nine of the attackers in an offside position as the ball is kicked.

The only attacking player who could legally play the ball was the attacking team's goalie.

The ball rolls dead near the corner of the pitch, with the defending team's coach instructing no one to play it--up a goal and late in the game, he wants to stall.

The goalie kept his distance from the ball, but was clearly ready to get there if needed.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only ten seconds, the attackers' coach tells them to kick it out, and they do.

But during those ten seconds, I started debating with myself whether the defending goalie actually had possession. He wasn't close enough to play the ball directly, but no one else had control and he would easily play it before anyone else trying got close.

If the attackers had tried to make a real play, should I have ruled the goalie in possession?

Otherwise, the defenders could have stalled indefinitely, no?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Bill
The technical answer is that offside is not reset until either ball goes out of play, a new phase of play begins or the defending team get unfettered control of the ball.
This is a very unusual situation as generally some attacking player will satisfy the offside condition by interfering, the ball will have gone out of play or a defender plays the ball away with no challenge from an opponent.
As described there was no offside until the attacking player touched the ball. In addition the goalkeeper or a member of the defending team was not in possession of the ball and therefore the referee will have to wait until that happens for offside to be reset.
I believe that the attacking team was caught unawares here as to how to get the game 'restarted'. It would have been better to have had the IDFK awarded instantly. It would remind me of the goalkeeper with the ball at his feet. There is an onus on the attacking team to 'get' the goalkeeper to play the ball or pick it up by moving towards him. I would also consider the 'lone' opponent who starts to move towards the ball as sufficient to call the offside as no onside player can play it. The Laws allow for that early flag and whistle.
I would be certainly be taking a keen interest in the restart and any delay from there on might also merit a caution.
BTW this is quite a unique scenario and one that is unlikely to be repeated.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Good question.

The traditional view is that the offside position is reset after the defense has clear and unfettered possession of the ball (both time and space). That usually involves touching the ball, but not always. The new terminology introduced by IFAB is a bit different, but should result in the same result. The referee needs to make a judgment that the defender's action is : (a) a 'deliberate play; and (b) not a 'deliberate save.'

It would be contrary to the spirit of the game to require one team to infringe the offisde law to avoid an indefinitely boring match. But, the wise attacker should treat this like a ball at the foot of any keeper. The keeper won't pick it up and the attacker makes a challenge for the ball. The same is true here. The attacker can run toward the ball without infringing the laws. Once the keeper is able to play the ball, there is no reason for an offside flag.

If I were the AR, I would wait and see. It is unlikely that the PIOP will hinder the keeper's ability to play the ball (see space and time), but they will need to make a run for the ball to cause the keeper to act. If the keeper waits to long to make a play on the ball, my opinion is that the laws were not intended to cover for the mistake of defenders. YMMV.