Question Number: 29394

Law 11 - Offside 5/10/2015

RE: Competitive Travel Under 13

Anthony of Turnersville , New Jersey United States asks...

Situation:
Player A is in offside position, but ball is not played in to them. Instead, ball is shot directly on goal and gk handles and then loses control of ball. Player A gets to loose ball and kicks into net. Is this Offside?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Anthony
As described this is offside under Law 11 condition of gaining an advantage by being in that position. The player in an offside position may not interfere with play or an opponent when the ball rebounds from the frame of the goal, on a rebound / deflection off an opponent or from a deliberate save.
The only way in your scenario that Player A would not be offside is if the goalkeeper saved the ball and then subsequently played the ball deliberately to the player.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Anthony,
Your description of the event implies the keeper is making a deliberate save !
It is MOST likely this is a classified as a deliberate save where the keeper stops the ball from entering or heading towards the goal and the ball is redirected anyway instead of being caught and held. In such cases the offside criteria is described as gaining an advantage and the offside player's restriction is ...NOT RESET... thus his participation results in an INDFK out!

There is ...some confusion... because the LOTG state an opponent (which can be the keeper) who deliberately chooses to play the ball has reset offside for their opponents and if they do it ...poorly... as in a mistake, it is their tough luck if a previously offside player is there to take advantage of it because offside is reset.

The LOTG also make it clear that a... deliberate save... is exempt from that consideration and it does ...NOT RESET... offside. If you ...ASK... what a deliberate save is, you will likely get the response that as a referee it will be your opinion, as you should know the difference between a ball that the keeper is playing as a save even if the ball might not have scored without his intervention.
For example, the keeper to knock down a cross into the middle is in my opinion a save, where as the keeper punching a ball clear as in the last WC Germany/Argentinian where the German Keeper punches the ball away overtop the Argentina striker was a deliberate play. It was... NOT ...in my opinion... a deliberate save. The fact it could have been a foul is another matter entirely.

The keeper by the nature of his position and the fact he has legal use of his hands inside his own PA I believe we give him greater leeway of any challenge on the ball as being classified as a deliberate save. Whereas a regular defender who upon making a deliberate challenge to deliberately play the ball away or out from his goal! Unless that ball ...would... have entered the goal directly, only then is that... deliberate play... elsewhere on the field, is now classified as a deliberate save thus ...NO RESET... for offside .

In essence these deliberate play/save incidents are treated exactly the same as a deflection or rebound which do not reset offside and an offside player will be caught out as gaining an advantage and an INDFK out will be awarded.
Cheers