Question Number: 29391

Law 11 - Offside 5/9/2015

RE: Under 11

Nancy Thornburg of Bishop, CA USA asks...

Scenario: Red Team has three players that are in an offside position at the time of a throw-in, but Player B and C are perfectly in line with Player A. Red team throws in a ball directly to Player A. Player A receives the ball, turns and passes the ball to Player B. Player B and C have been lined up with Player A throughout the play. Once Player B receives the ball, is the player offside? I did not call offside because I felt the offside would reset once Player A received the ball directly from a throw-in.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Nancy.
offside is a LITERAL foul in the sense IF the criteria IS met it is offside. You are correct when player A receives the ball in an offside position from the throw in there is NO violation as the throw ins are exempt.
Now once Player A passes the ball as it is her last touch if there is no 2nd last defender then the BALL itself is the imaginary offside line the officials will look at to see if the receiving player B is further away from the opposing goal than the ball at the time of player's A last touch contact.
IF player B is ...NOT... offside she can play the ball and the SAME criteria would then apply to Player C when player B last touches the ball over. The key points are playable body parts can NOT be ahead of the ball at that crucial last touch moment. Often a player will be slightly ahead of the other BUT NOT ahead of the ball. There was a very good video showing this I will try to track it down. The play was incorrectly called offside but on the replay you can see how the receiving player albeit he is a bit ahead of the passer he is EVEN with the ball These calls are difficult but it is ...WHY we tell ARs when in doubt DO NOT WAVE IT ABOUT!
The fact that a player can run forward to get to the ball and look offside when in fact at the time of the pass he was ...NOT... offside is a visual misconception that many ARs fall prey too. LOOK at the ...CRITICAL... last touch of the ball
by FREEZING the play then remember players and the ball move... AFTER... the criteria was established...

We know this call was wrong because you can hear the pundit commentary saying how right it was lol

http://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2014-08-16-new-england-revolution-vs-portland-timbers/details/video/22997> Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Nancy,

A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponents goal line than both the 2nd last line of defence AND the ball.
Once the throw is taken and an attacking teammate touches it, then we need to start thinking about offside position.
If Attackers B and C are level with Attacker A, then that suggests they're probably actually behind the ball - if so, they're not offside.

Position relative to the ball and other defenders is all that matters.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Nancy
A player cannot be offside directly from a throw in. So Player A no matter where she was could not be called offside receiving the ball from the TI.
That phase of play is now ended and we look to evaluate offside on what Player A does with the ball and the position of her team mates at the MOMENT of the touch / play by A. Positions at the time of the TI have now passed and irrelevant. If A plays the ball to either B or C and they are both in an offside position at the touch / play by A then offside will be called when either player interferes with play or with an opponent.

So an example is that the TI is thrown to A who was in an offside position. She heads the ball so there is no offence as A cannot be offside from a TI However the header goes to B who was in an offside position at the moment of As header. B will be called offside when she touches the ball.
A good way to think of offside is to think in frames. Each touch / play is a frame and we evaluate each touch / play against offside in that frame and in accordance with Law 11. The TI is a frame and so is the touch by A after the TI another frame.