Question Number: 28610

Law 11 - Offside 7/16/2014

RE: Recreation Adult

Russell of Sydney, NSW Australia asks...

This question is a follow up to question 28596

Thank you for you respective comments regarding my offside scenario. (28596)
Obviously the attacking team in this scenario would favour the reply's from Ref Dawson and Mchugh, while the defending team would go with Ref Wright !

Clearly the important elements appear to be the term 'control' and so the ref would need to evaluate the degree of control, general level of skill level of the match (and more importantly the player involved), and if the attacker is pressuring the defender.

The point made by ref Wright regarding penalising a defender who is attempting to do their role is helpful.

Poor execution v control is certainly open to interpretation for the ref of the moment.

Cheers
Russell

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Russell
FIFA has endeavoured to limit the circumstances which offside can be called. A series of videos have been prepared to assist referees in interpreting "" gaining an advantage by being in that position"".
Here are a few examples
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video008.html
No 21 Blue touches the ball back to the White player in an offside position. One can argue that was a not controlled play. FIFA opines that the ball was deliberately played hence no offside
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video006.html
In this one Blue while stretching heads the ball to the player in an offside position. Was it poor execution? Was it a controlled play
Again FIFA has determined that it was deliberately played.
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video007.html
On this one FIFA has opined that the contact by Red was a deflection and offside should be called.

Now one of the challenges facing referees is that Offside has had a very long history the game and with that it brings quite an amount of baggage from previous interpretations. In old money a header rarely reset the offside simply because it was deemed a single touch which rarely exerted any control over the ball. In the Pro game heading is now highly developed.
I was an AR in a recent game and a defender clearly attempted to head a ball back to a team mate. The ball went to a player in an offside position and the flag promptly went up from my colleague on the opposite side. Not much complaint from the attacking side. When questioned at the end of the game my colleague said that he did not see it as a deliberate play. I suspect had play continued there would have been significant questioning of the non offside call and therein lies the problem for the game. If I had been on that side I would have kept the flag down and many would have seen a ball played through, an attacker some 5 yards in an offside position and a defender heading the ball on to that PIOP. Many expect the flag to go up the moment the ball was kicked towards the PIOP which at one time could be called offside and fully supported in Law.
When on the line I hear all sorts of comments " There was three of them offside"" "" Get the flag up quicker Lino"" "" No advantage there"" which demonstrates a lack of knowledge of Law 11
Final point is that if the PIOP is pressuring the defender and close enough to challenge for the ball then it is interfering with an opponent not gaining an advantage.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Russell,
We thank you for the kind words! You are most welcome. It is good to seek out opinions on ambiguous matters of law. We can only hope we clarify things as opposed to murky the waters. lo.l
I am very much in agreement with my colleague Ref McHugh. It has been the intention of FIFA and the IFAB to promote attacking soccer by trying to narrow the scope of offside interpretations. There is a mandate within the AR bible that says, -{WHEN IN DOUBT DO NOT WAVE IT ABOUT!}- Keep the flags down unless 100% sure. Wait, just wait to see, no unnecessary early flags for me! My other colleague's, Ref Wright, salient point is yes, defenders have a duty to defend and challenge for the ball just as attackers have a duty to attack and avoid or rebuke those challenges . Each tempt the offside law with their actions. The Referee and ARs decide who wins based on their current knowledge understanding and application of offside criteria. There is a gap in knowing the law and in its application because of the subjective nature of opinion. A deflection can include an effort to redirect the ball to a particular place or stop it from getting to a particular place as a deliberate action poorly conceived! That is why referees have difficulty in determining control as a basis for thinking it resets first touch conditions.
A rebound is simply a matter of the ball inadvertently being redirected off a player and would never reset offside criteria. There are still pundits, referees, managers, players and fans who over- complicate Law 11, and will be adamant that flags be raised or lowered on their 'personal' view of the game! Offside position, is a matter of fact, whereas an 'offside offence' is purely subjective to the interpretation of the referee.
Offside is not without controversy, these revisions of law by the IFAB try to improve the game without destroying the balance that creates the current flow of the beautiful game are often easier to want than to describe in a meaningful way. When the IFAB altered the previous wording in the older version of Law 11 Offside 'seeking to gain an advantage', to 'gaining an advantage by being in that position', it was to rectify the problem of interpretation. All players on the field SEEK to gain an advantage. It is the nature of competition to undo the opposition, and whether defenders or attackers, each choose the actions best suited to their needs.
You are correct. There are unfortunately divergent opinions as to the conditions that constitute a deflection from a deliberate play. However, in my opinion, it is wrong to add the word -:control:- as the sole reasoning to judge offside criteria when considering a defender's actions to resetting a first touch. Point two of the gaining an advantage law does not use the word -:control;- it uses the phrase "an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball". We can easily determine a rebound off an inanimate object, ie post /crossbar, as a static condition. It is within the sphere of player's action when rebounds and deflections off the opponent offer greater degrees of uncertainty because the laws try to discern when it ok and when it is not ok to reset the offside criteria, using the terms 'deliberate save' and 'deliberately playing the ball.' to make their point. When a defender saves a goal or prevents the shot from reaching the goal a referee can aside ANY doubt about whether the ball off the defender is a deflection or a deliberate play simply because control does not matter. It speaks, I think, principally to the keeper who is the more likely shot blocker, but it applies to balls directed onto goal where a defender might try to clear or block the ball deliberately from entering a goal. Saving a goal by deliberately playing the ball, the defender can get a call in their favour! When the defender tries to deliberately play a through ball being passed into space for an offside positioned attacker to run on to, the defender will get a greater leeway on what could be a deflection if the opportunity to challenge is not realistic and it is obvious the ball is going to go to the offside positioned attacker. He sticks a leg out in a desperate bid to block the ball, the ball rolls over his foot or off his shin or he leaps high into the air and the ball grazes his hair, still headed towards the offside attacker. It should be judged as a deflection, offside awarded. Yet if that same ball had skittered out of play, say over the touchline, that offside player could run over, pick it up, and throw it in to a streaking attacker quite legally. The defender plays that ball off his chest, has it bounce in front of him, then tries to kick it clear and miss hits it over his head. Thank you for the gift, no offside .
If the ball is deliberately played by a defender on the right, but miss hit or poorly headed, or the wind is blowing hard and the ball flicks off to the left side and back where a late returning offside attacker is the recipient of a gift, no offside. If a defender deliberately plays the ball intercepting a through ball going to an onside player with a toe poke slide or a glancing header, and that ball skitters over to an offside positioned attacker it is a gift, no offside. If that same ball struck him inadvertently on the backside or side of the knee, thus was not deliberately played and rebounded to the offside positioned attacker, it is offside!
If you watched the 2014 WC final there was a back header by the German midfielder Toni Kroos that careened off his head in a manner where it was not under control but gifted to the offside positioned Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain at about 20 minutes into the first half with a free shot on goal. A great example of an offside positioned opponent having Christmas early by a deliberately played ball with very poor control if any at all! This is not a deflection. I actually think if we took the word deflection out of offside all together and just used the word rebound it could be more clear. When interpreting the relinquishing of the offside restriction of the attackers as the ball is reset, by the new touch of the defender when he deliberately plays it, there is less and less leeway to see it as accidental and simply raise a flag because we are used to doing so!
GAINING AN ADVANTAGE – what the law used to say: "Gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goal post or the crossbar having been in an offside position, or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.
GAINING AN ADVANTAGE - what the law now says: "Gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball:
1.That rebounds or is deflected to him off the goal post, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position.
2. That rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position.
3.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.
Cheers