Question Number: 28996

Law 11 - Offside 11/22/2014

RE: Competitive Adult

John of Bristol, MA USA asks...

An attacker is standing in an offside position, 4-5 yds behind the second to last defender, about 8 yds from goal. A teammate breaks through the line of defense with the ball and dribbles past the attacker who been in an offside position and then immediately passes the ball to him. The pass is lateral or even slightly behind. The question is should the player who was initially in an offside position be called for gaining an advantage by being in an offside position, or does the situation reset the instant that the player with the ball goes past him?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
It is not an offence to BE in an offside position. As described this cannot be offside as when the onside player moves the ball forward he begins a new phase of play. When that player passes the ball to his team mate offside is reevaluated at that time and if the player receiving the ball is now in an onside position play continues

Please remember that the offside condition of gaining an advantage by being in that position only applies to the ball rebounding / deflecting off an opponent or the frame of the goal to the player in an offside position at that time. It should not be confused with what you have described as advantageous to the player / team.
An extreme example would be a forward who stands in the opponents penalty area perhaps 40 yards offside or 8/10 yards from goal. He is restricted from getting involved in play until he is put in an onside position. When that happens he is entitled to become involved in active play.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi John,
offside position is not an offence, he is only restricted from active involvement! If he becomes involved while in a restricted offside position only then is it an infringement and the INDFK awarded. Offside position is evaluated and determined anew at EACH touch of the ball by a teammate! When there are NOT two opponents closer to the goal line than the BALL itself becomes the offside line!

When the team mate actually touches the ball AFTER carrying the ball PAST the offside restricted player (ORP) closer to the opposing goal line only then would the offside restriction be lifted. This assumes that there are not two opponents in the equation.

The key point of time here is at some point the ORP must be further away from the opposing goal line than the actual ball itself when it is touched by the team mate. This includes all playing parts except the hands remember on a lateral pass it is easy for the player receiving the ball to be a stride ahead as the team mate passes the ball over and it is the closets part to the touchline that is considered as the offside line

I refereed three back to back matches where your exact scenario played out. In all 3 cases the defending team was screaming offside when the goal was scored . I allowed one goal but had to deny the other 2 but another one was scored on a PK

The first one that lateral pass over, the player receiving had about 1/2 stride ahead of the ball, offside. no goal

Second one the team mate carried and touched the ball when the ball was 100% completely past the ORP then slide a diagonal ball ahead for him to run on to for an easy tap in goal.

Third one the offside player was guilty of interfering with play because the team mate dribbling the ball had last touched the ball while the ORP was still closer to the touchline. Then the team mate and the rolling ball both passed the ORP but the out rushing keeper managed to clean out the attacker in a definite foul. The ball was continuing towards the goal, our trailing ORP, who was still restricted, because, even though the ball and the team mate got by him, the ball was not touched by the team mate in that time frame. Hence disallow the goal award a PK and show the red card to the keeper send him off reduce them by a player.

One of the biggest issues is whether the PLAYABLE body parts are messing up the equation! A leaning forward with the head or a long leg stretched out in a running stride can put part of the body ahead of the ball even if he looks level with the team mate. Generally it is a matter of timing in the player receiving tends to speed up and the player passing tends to slow down

The situation RESETS for the ORP, ONLY if that team mate player with the ball goes past him and THEN that team mate player touches the ball, with the ball being closer to the opposing touchline than ANY playable body part of the former ORP!
Cheers