Question Number: 28596

Law 11 - Offside 7/13/2014

RE: Recreational Adult

Russell Montgomery of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

This Q is related to offside.

Team A forward is in an offside position as he very slowly moves back up field following a recent 'attack' on goal by his team.

He is still 10 metres behind the last defender of team B, when a teammate of Team A plays a long clearing ball up field - following a Team B attack.

Team A forward is not interested in getting involved in the play as he acknowledges that he is in an 'offside' position, and makes no attempt to make a movement towards the flight of the ball - which had yet to make it past the last defender of Team B, but clearly would do so if left alone.

The last defender of Team B makes a move towards the ball, jumps to head the ball, however, fails to judge the flight correctly, and the ball skims off his head and continues upfield.

Team A forward, seeing the ball skim off the Team B defender's head, turns and runs to collect the ball and ultimately rounds the onrushing Team B keeper to score.

Goal is awarded. Team B team blow up, shouting 'he was offside when ball was played', which the Ref agreed that he was in an offside position when the ball was played, however, disagreed he was involved in the play.
Team B then shout 'he was interfering in the play'. The Ref dismisses this, saying the Team B defenders could not possibly see the Team A attacking player.

Team B now say the knew he was there so 'he was influencing the defenders'. The Ref said if the Team B defender was aware the Team A attacker was there, they could have chosen to not play at the ball, therefore forcing the Team A attacker to be offside if he engaged in the play.

Was the Ref correct in allowing Team A attacker to collect the ball and progress on to score?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Russell,

Short answer YES!

Being in an offside position is NOT an offence!

The offside attacker did NOTHING that prevented the defender from deliberately playing the ball! Not in obstructing his vision nor challenging him for ball possession.

The fact the defender tries to deliberately play the ball but does so poorly and makes a mistake is GIFT to his opponents because now the offside conditions which applied prior to this poor touch creates a NEW phase of evaluation releasing the lucky attacker from his previous offside (no can touch the ball) restriction.

A deliberate attempt to play the ball if the ball is too high and you jump up an incredible distance only to have it brush your hair or you can barely get a toe to it at full stretch is not the same as if the ball could be easily played with control and you muff the opportunity . Poorly playing the ball and not controlling it is NOT a true deflection or rebound where the ball inadvertently strikes an opponent without his ability to deliberately play it . ONLY if this poor effort was considered a deliberate save where the ball is prevented from entering the goal is there ANY possibility of an off side infraction.

• "gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball 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

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
The answer lies in whether the referee determines that the contact by the defender was a deflection / rebound or not.
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.
Have a look at this video. Blue clearly plays the ball albeit poorly. That resets the offside.
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video006.html
If the ball say skimmed of a defender's head it might be deemed a deflection as in this case
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video004.html
I also think that many referees take into account the skill level of players. At recreational level a 'lazy' attacker who has not made an effort to come back onside might be penalised for offside when the defender has simply deflected the ball while stretching.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Russell,

In answering, I'm interpreting your question as stating that the defender just didn't get the height on the jump and thus didn't quite reach the ball and had no control over it.

One thing that keeps this game so interesting is just how broadly the Laws of the Game can be interpreted. For myself, I disagree with my esteemed respected colleagues here.

My colleagues have already quoted the relevant chapters of law; what this comes down to is 'interpretation'. What does it mean when the laws state 'rebounds', 'deflected' or 'played'?

General consensus is that 'control' is the key. If a player makes a controlled pass of the ball to another player, then he has 'played' the ball. If he sticks his foot out to try and stop a ball, can't control it and the ball comes off his leg to that player, then that's a 'deflection'.

the laws do not, at any point, state that attempting to play the ball can nullify an offside. If an attacker kicks a ball through, a defender sticks out his leg but it bounces off his shin and continues through to the original attacker in an offside position, then you wouldn't hesitate to put the flag up. It's actually a very common scenario - and the reason we apply the laws this way is because it would be very dangerous, and against the spirit of the game, to be interpreting the law in a way that effectively punishes a defender for doing the right thing and attempting to stop a ball.

And if we were to apply the original attacker to retrieve the ball because the defender couldn't quite reach the ball, then we are punishing the defender for doing the right thing. We cannot expect the defender to not attempt to play the ball - that's completely unreasonable. I do believe that if we were to say the scenario in your question was not offside, then everytime a defender sticks a leg out to try and stop a through ball would also be 'not offside'. And that's definitely not so.

Whether or not the attacker was standing around twiddling his thumbs or actively moving for the ball or trying to get back onside is irrelevant.

'Influencing the defenders' has no place in law, so is irrelevant (though if he is immediately pressuring the defender, that's 'interfering with an opponent'). All that matters is control. If the defender controlled the ball and just sent a bad header through, the ref was correct. If he couldn't be expected to control the ball and the ball was too high just skimmed off his hair and went through, the ref could have seen it as offside

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