Question Number: 18919

Law 11 - Offside 4/28/2008

RE: Other

pat vance of cupertino, ca usa asks...

This question is a follow up to question 18349

Goal kick. Player of red team takes a goal kick; A1 of the red team is on the opposing player's side of field 10 yards past the half line and the blue player is on his own side of the field 3 yards from the half line. Ball deflects off of blue teams head, and goes to A1. A1 goes down the field and scores. Legal or not? The rules I believe states player receiving the ball "directly" from a goal kick is not offside/ what about a deflection, does this constitute an offside since it wasn't received directly?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Pat, you have a decision to make between two alternatives.

(1) The header by blue is considered a deflection, so any offside considerations that might be present for red would remain in effect. Since the ball was last touched by the red teammate taking the goal kick, those offside considerations are specifically exempted by Law 11.

(2) The header by blue is considered a controlled play of the ball, so offside considerations for red are reset. No offside considerations for red.

Either way, the goal is valid.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

On a goal kick (corner and throw -in as well) the offside positional criteria is NOT under consideration until a team member has secondary contact after the initial start of putting the ball into play.

The touch/play albeit a deflection off the head will count as a secondary play and ONLY that blue team is evaluated for offside positional criteria at that moment.
However, DEFLECTIONS off a blue player do not affect the offside criteria already in effect for the opposing red team. Given a goal kick has the special offside exemption criteria after a deflection of the ball off a blue player that exemption remains ONLY for the opposing red team.
The red player score is 100% legitamate and the correct restart is a kick off!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

When the Laws Of The Game use the word directly, they assume we know that to mean doesn't touch a teammate on the way. Why? Because what an opponent does in the interim is meaningless as offside is only judged at the moment the ball is played or touched by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

My colleagues stomp all around the basic points needed to solve this one. First a player may not be declared to have committed an offside offence if he receives the ball directly from goal kick or corner kick or throw-in. Second offside position is judged when the ball is touched or played by one of the offside positioned player's OWN team.

You say the ball travels directly from goal kick to an opponent of the offside positioned player who touches it. This is not something we're going to be concerned about so far as imposing the restrictions Law 11 mentions. The goal is most valid.

Regards,