Question Number: 29390

Law 11 - Offside 5/9/2015

Andy Weinstein of Jackson, NJ USA asks...

Question pertains to offsides:

A direct kick is awarded to the offensive team at the top of the box. An Attacker stands in the Wall and 'peels' off before the kick is taken and stands in an offsides position right in front of the Goal Keeper. The attacker faces his teammate (back to the Keeper). The shot is taken the keeper is screened and the ball goes in the goal. The Attacker did not make an attempt to alter the kick, he stood still, however, he was right in front of the GK. Please advise if the attacker should be deemed offsides.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Andy,
Short answer is YES!
the offside attacker is interfering with the keeper by denying line of sight to the ball. This is an INDFK out!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Andy
The answer is in the opinion of the referee as to whether the player in an offside position clearly obstructed the goalkeepers line of vision. I have seen these go either way with referees in some instances deeming that the player was not in line or that he was so far away he did not clearly obstruct the opponents vision.
So for me the distance away from the goalkeeper has a bearing with the closer to the goalkeeper increasing the obstruction of the view. Also line of sight means that and that can be difficult to determine for the referee unless he is directly in line.

Now if a player stands right in front of the goalkeeper then that it is interfering with an opponent and offside will be called. Move him away say 12 / 18 yards and it is less likely with the call being ITOOTR. I tend to be old school here in that the player has only one intention in what you described which is to deliberately interfere with the goalkeepers line of view and certainly runs a very high risk of being called.
Have look at this question with the examples and you will see where the player is close to being in front yet does not interfere.
http://www.asktheref.com/Soccer%20Rules/Question/29351/
Here is a good example of how difficult this call is. The Blue players complain on the offside position citing line of sight interfering. There was no line of sight interfering here. The AR is unsure yet he knows that there were players in an offside position so he holds his ground. The referee could not tell from his position that there was a line of vision interfering so the goal should have stood.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0rzWoApvwWY