Question Number: 24921

Mechanics 5/11/2011

RE: Select Under 15

Mike caron of Byrna, NJ USA asks...

Two offside Questions,

Attacking team has a two player breakaway, prior to scoring, these two players do the following:
Player A forward passes the ball to Player B at the 18 yard line, Plyer B then forward Passes back to Player A in the penalty area and scores, AR disallows goal saying Player A was offsides as she was in front of the ball when she recieved the pass. If both these Players had already passed all of the defenders then how could this be called off sides?

Opponents Keeper is playing midway between the 18 yard line and the half line, in effect she has become a 'field' player and there is no player behind her closer to her goal, Our team sends a striker to mark the keeper while she is in this position to prevent the Ball from being played back to her, the ball is sent back to the keeper and intercepted by our striker, our striker is called for offsides, is this call correct ?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mike
First off passing all defenders does not exempt players from being in an offside position in the opponents' half.
In scenario 1 if Player A is ahead of the ball when it is played to her by Player B that is offside as the player is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent. The key here is BOTH the ball and the 2nd last opponent. If Player A was behind the ball when it was played to her she would not be in an offside position as while she is nearer to the opponents' goal line than the 2nd last opponent she is not nearer than the ball and it must be BOTH to be called offside.
In your second scenario it depends on who played the ball towards the goalkeeper. If it was a deliberate play by a defender then that cannot be offside. However if the ball was played by a team mate or touched by a team mate of the forward then offside will be called as the player is an offside position and meets all the offside conditions. I would be really disappointed if offside was called on a ball deliberately played back to the goalkeeper by her team mate. That would be clearly an error perhaps on the assumption that the ball was played by an opponent of the GK.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

The referee made the right decision. When an attacker is closer to the opponent's goal than the second last defender, offside position is judged with reference to the location of the ball each time it is touched or played by a teammate.

When a player is in offside position (like, your striker marking the keeper) she may not participate in play until a) the ball is possessed and controlled by a defender; or b) the ball goes out of play. Your striker could participate in play only if a member of the defending team gains control of the ball (and passes the ball back towards her keeper). Otherwise, she must be in onside position the next time the ball is touched by a teammate to be eligible to participate in play.

The offside law is designed to take away most of the benefits from placing a player near the opponent's keeper. The framers of the law felt the tactic was unfair. A player in offside position may not touch the ball and may not interfere with a defender's ability to see or play the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hi Coach and thanks for the questions.

First, I'm a bit puzzled by your asking how could Players A and B be offside if they had passed all the defenders. Well, in order to be in an offside position, one of the requirements is that an attacking player must be nearer the opposing goal line than the next to last opponent. Since you say both A and B have passed all the defenders, either or both could be in an offside position IF BOTH of the following additional requirements are met:
1. They are in the attacking half of the field (pretty sure they are)
2. They are closer to the opposing goal than the BALL.

Now, when Player A first passed the ball to Player B, where was Player B? You say Player A passed the ball forward but that's immaterial. If Player B was ahead of the ball when it was passed (i.e. nearer the opposing goal line than the ball), Player B should have been flagged for an offside offense as soon as she touched the ball. If Player B was even with or behind the ball, no offside. When Player B passed the ball to Player A, where was Player A? If as the AR said, Player A was ahead of the ball when Player B played it, Player A may not participate in play. As soon as she touched the ball, the flag should have gone up for offside.



Your second question is not as simple. First, your striker sent to mark the keeper is most likely in an offside position. She's definitely closer to the opposing goal line than the next to last opponent and is in the attacking half. Where is the ball? From your description, it seems your striker is ahead of the ball, thus in an offside position. But.... who played the ball to the opposing keeper? It sounds like the keeper's teammate played the ball and your striker intercepted it. If so, there can be no offside as offside only happens when the ball is touched or played by a TEAMMATE, in this case for offside to happen the ball would have to have been last touched or played by one of your players before your striker touched it. If your player played the ball to your striker, it's offside. If the other team passed the ball, then your striker is free to play it and an offside call would be a mistake.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

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