Question Number: 23281

Law 15 - Throw In 5/9/2010

RE: travel Under 12

mark of robinson, pa usa asks...

My question is in regards to throw ins. I'm aware that there is no offside when a player receives the ball directly from a throw in...what constitutes directly? Can a defender deflect the ball first? We had a situation where a defender deflected the throw in ball backwards, then it was picked up by the attacking team behind the defense. Is this still considered receiving the ball directly from a throw in? And if it is at what point does that situation become to the point of not being received directly? Thanks for your help.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
Directly means what it says so a player cannot be offside from a throw in if he receives it directly. Move this on to the situation where a defender touches the ball from a TI. As it is a deflection off a defender nothing has changed from an offside perspective so play continues. If it were a touch by an team mate from a throw in then when the team mate in an offside position touches the ball the conditions for offside have been met.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

It really doesn't matter if it is still considered directly from a throw-in or not. If it was considered direct, then offside doesn't apply. If it was not considered direct, then the ball came from an opponent not a teammate, and offside doesn't apply. Either way you look at it, no offside.

The only consideration is if the ball is thrown by A1, touches A2, and deflects to A3 who was in an offside position. Since they are all three on the same team, A3 would be called for offside if she was in an offside position at the time of the deflection by A2.