Question Number: 28517

Law 11 - Offside 6/18/2014

RE: club Under 19

Richard Duncan of Frostburg, Maryland USA asks...

I'll set the scenerio. A player is in an offside position standing to the left of the goal. Her teammate takes a shot on goal from the right of the goal and the goalie deflects the shot which goes to the girl on the left. She kicks the ball in. Was she offside or onside? I called offside and the coaches as well as the other referee said that because the goalie touched the ball she was not offside.

Thank you

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Richard
You were 100% correct. The player in an offside position ''gained an advantage by being in that position''. The moment the player touched the rebound she met all the offside criteria.
IFAB clarified this in the current Law book with the following advice:
--------------------------------
“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"
--------------------------------
The 2nd point explains it fully. BTW there is nothing new in this just that it needed spelling out due to misinterpretation in some countries mainly South American where some believed that save was control of the ball.