Question Number: 29444

Law 11 - Offside 5/26/2015

RE: Rec Adult

George of Parangarecutirimicuaro, CA Sacratomato asks...

Player A is in the offside position on his left wing position. Player B, who is is not offside and in the right wing position, dribbles the ball past the defender and is headed straight at the goalie. In the process, the defense reacts to the play and covers the player in the offside position momentarily. Once player B has everyone beat, the defense suddenly freezes. Player B shoots and the goalie dives/blocks the shot. Player A, who continued following the play, is now past the defenders and the goalie is on the ground. Player A has an open shot and scores. From my view, player A kicked the ball in from a spot that was just behind the imaginary line where player B had taken his shot. Was this a goal or an offside?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

This is a goal.

Player A is in offside position while player B dribbles and shoots. But, it is not an offense to be in an offside position. Moving toward the goal is not enough. Being somewhere where the defense suddenly freezes or gets confused is not enough. Player A did not challenge for the ball, or affect the defender's ability to see or play the ball.

If player A was still in an offside position at the time of B's shot, Player A would be offside for playing the ball after it rebounded off an opponent following a deliberate save. But, you indicate that player A was onside at the time of the shot (he was even with or behind the ball). That makes Player A eligible to play the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi George,
Where A took his shot from means ...ZERO.... what is important is ....WHERE... was A when B took ...HIS ... shot?
That is the critical moment where the ...OFFICIALS... freeze frame the positions of the 2nd last defender, the ball and any opponent who might then be offside.

If I read you right when Player B took his shot Player A was ...FARTHER ... away from the opposing goal line than player B and the ball. Thus it is impossible for player A to be adjudged as in an offside position. Player A was free to follow up and take on the rebound off the keeper with NO restrictions thus a good goal. In my evaluation of this situation Player A could have knocked the ball in on the goal line if it was lying there because he was NO longer restricted as a PIOP (player in offside position) based on his position at the last touch of the ball by his team mate player B. Being in offside positions is not an excuse for the defenders to stop playing or choosing poor tactics as long as Player A did not interfere earlier with the oppositions ability to play see or get to that ball, when he was offside positioned, BEFORE Player's B shot. Player A was not guilty of involvement!

Players in offside positions are evaluated at every touch of the ball by a team mate thus their restrictions are ...RESET... this means they can be lifted entirely or reissued at each ball touch incident.
Players previously thought to be offside positioned will often move into what LOOKS like a further offside position but those watching missed the last positional evaluation earlier which placed them as onside. This is because offside Position is only one part of the offside equation which is evaluated at ...EVERY ... teammate's touch of the ball.

If one understands the evaluation criteria and the movement intricacies there can be a time delay in between the positional evaluation and Involvement which is the 2nd part to full fill an offside infraction.
Players from both sides move in different directions, with the ball moving all about and offside positional evaluations and resets occurring at EACH touch of the ball by a team mate.

This makes it difficult to recall the ever evolving placement of those who MIGHT be restricted and those who are free and clear to pursue active play.
You couple this information with the fact if there is no 2nd last opponent in the equation ,the ball itself is the offside imaginary line running across the field when last touched by a team mate. It is not difficult to imagine why those watching get confused and even those officials charged with paying attention get the occasional call incorrect .

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi George
We can discount the initial offside position of Player A as Player B had begun a new phase of play by his dribble.
Now the important part of the offside decision was the position of Player A when Player B shot at goal. If Player A was nearer to his opponents' goal line than BOTH the ball and the second-last opponent then he is an offside position and he will be called offside for gaining an advantage by being in that position when he plays the rebound. If Player A was behind the ball when the shot was taken by B then the goal was good.