Question Number: 20364

Law 16 - Goal Kick 10/26/2008

RE: amateur Professional

IAN KING of kilmarnock, ayarshire uk asks...

A goal kick is taken and the wind carries it over the defenders to an attacker who is standing 4 yards offside he rounds the goalkeeper and scores he claims you cannot be offside from a goal kick. The referee awards an offside decision. Who is correct?

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

It is true a player cannot be offside from a goal kick, but this refers to members of the same team as took the goal kick. It is also true that a player cannot be charged with offside if he receives the ball from a defender.

The situation you pose puzzles me, though. Where was this player located such that he was in an offside position? Did the ball clear the penalty area before the wind took it? If not, the ball was not in play, and no goal can count - the goal kick will be retaken.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

If we are talking about a goal kick restart no opposition player is permitted INSIDE the penalty area until after the ball clears the boundary lines into play.
Now as to a goal kick , the kick is an offside exemption for the team taking the kick . IN fact ANY free kick taken by the opposition exempts the opposing team from offside as it is a ball last controlled and played by an opponent no team mate is involved!
If we read this right the ball was kicked high into the wind cleared the area but the ball was then blown back over top the nearest defenders and wound up at the foot of an opposing attacker who was where when this goal kick began? As long as he was not inside the penalty area he is fine. Being in an offside looking position means nothing, he was onside at the kick and he is unrestricted.
He is permitted to run into the penalty area AFTER the ball leaves so if he followed the wind assisted ball back into the area he can thank the wind gods for the assist and being quick enough to get the break
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

I'm not sure I follow you. If the goal kick carried over the opponents to a teammate that was 4 yards in offside position then, yes, there can be no offside as the ball was received directly from a goal kick and there can be no offside offense if a ball is directly received from a goal kick regardless of position. If you are saying that the goal kick somehow went to an opponent that was in offside position, there can still be no offside as offside is only judged at the moment the ball is played by a teammate. If the opponent played the ball after it left the penalty area and was not inside the penalty area when the kick was taken, it would be a valid goal.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

We're all confused by who are attackers and who are defenders. Sometimes those terms refer to specific field positions (there are attackers and defenders simultaneously on both teams); sometimes to all the players on the field of the team that [ has / does not have ] the ball. So let's deconstruct:

Team A's goalkeeper (or another player) takes a goal kick that catches a tailwind, sails beyond all the Team B players to an A teammate who was in an offside position. No offside - the Team A teammate is exempt because he received the ball directly from a goal kick.

--- or ---

Team A takes the goal kick into a strong headwind. The ball leaves the penalty area, but is stopped by the wind and goes to a Team B player who was in an offside position. No offside - Team B received the ball directly from a controlled play by an opponent. For offside to apply, it would have had to come from a teammate.