Question Number: 4939

Law 11 - Offside

RE: Rec Under 15

Jason Austin of Victoria, BC, Canada asks...

Law 11 - Offside Timing of the offside offence..I am a Club Linesman. Can you help me on the timing of the offside offence...The FIFA Law 11 says "A player in an offside position is only.penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team,team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by: ..............". .The US Soccer Federation however, in their excellent article "Advice To Referees" http://www.ussoccer.com/templates/includes/services/referees/pdfs/Advice2001.pdf, say at para 11.2 "The referee's decision to penalize the player for being in that [offside] position can be made at the moment the offside position is judged if the other requirements of Law 11 are met, but it can also be made at any time from that point forward until a new action on the field puts the attacker "onside" (see 11.15). The condition of being in an offside position (and the possibility of being penalized) continues no matter where that player may move, no matter where the ball may move, and no matter where the defenders may move. Only the occurrence of one of the events described in 11.15 can end this period...What the USSF say makes a lot of sense, that the offside player remains offside and subject to penalty if he becomes involved in active play until something happens that puts him onside, but that does seem to take it quite a way beyond the plain reading of the FIFA law that says there is only an offence if the offside player is engaged in active play at the moment the ball makes contact with his team member...I live in Canada. Is the USSF interpretation the way we should play here?..Thank you.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Jason a lot of argument time is spent on offside, especially how a player comes back onside. It is simply not written, in specific words, it must be deduced. ..Let's look at what happens if a player is in an offside position at the moment the ball is touched or played by a colleague: he is disqualified from participating in that particular play. He remains unable to join the fray until something else happens, right?..Right. Now what must happen? That is simple, a new judgement of offside must occur. That happens if a colleague touches the ball again. If, at that time the player is now in an onside position he may, then, participate in play. So, by inference the moment an offside player becomes onside is at the next opportunity to judge offside. So two things happen, the player moves to an onside position (still unable to participate) and the moment to judge offside occurs again...The Laws define offside position and say player may move freely into and back from an offside position without penalty. It is not against the Law to be in an offside position. So a player may move to an onside position during active play as long as he doesn?t do the three forbidden things:.. 1. Interfere with play. 2. Interfere with an opponent. 3. Gain advantage..The referee crew must understand this, especially the assistant referee. His understanding and proper application of the Law give the referee required information so the referee may sanction an offside player...There is another thing that happens that will allow a player in an offside position to participate in play and the referee crew sometimes gets that one wrong. If an opponent controls the ball and plays it, that is not an opportunity to judge offside position of his opponents, only his teammates. Confusing? ..Probably. Think a bit, you're in an offside position and the ball is hit toward you. A defender collects the ball and starts forward. He is prevented from moving forward by your teammates, he turns around and kicks the ball back to his keeper. Right to you and you are still in an offside position. This is not an opportunity to sanction you for offside. You may, and usually do, get involved. Easy goal, right? ..How many times have you seen this goal disallowed for offside? The goal should stand because you are not prohibited from interfering or gaining advantage when an opponent plays the ball, only your teammate...The Advice to Referees is a superb aid to referees, but the referee must have an understanding of the Laws before he reads Advice. I hope that you have a better understanding of offside after reading this meager effort at explaining the complexities of offside...Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Sebalja

What it is saying is that if that player gains an advantage from being in an offside position, such as the ball being played across the feild to a player who then becomes invovled in play and was in an offside position.

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