Question Number: 29552

Law 11 - Offside 7/23/2015

RE: (Rec, Select, Competive Adult

Robert Saccoia of Roseville, MI USA asks...

Does the defender have to control the ball to negate offside?
What if the defender touches the ball but can't control it?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

No. This is a big change to the interpretation of offside. The defender now has to make a deliberate play on the ball, but a poor play will count. We used to look for clear possession and control. No more.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Robert
control is no longer a criteria that truly applies to offside decisions. The current thinking is if in the opinion of the referee the defender makes a ...deliberate play ...on the ball that is sufficient to reset offside for the opposition . In other wards,(he moves into and tries to direct that ball) There is no guarantee of control, the defender could miss hit or make a mistake. What is DIFFERENT is if the ball itself ...Impacts... against the player and the player is unaware or has NO time or space in which to react. These are deflections or rebounds and DO not constitute deliberate plays.

There is one additional component that further complicates offside. The powers that be added the concept of a ...DELIBERATE SAVE... which is in fact anywhere and at any time considered as a deliberate play elsewhere on the field.

If the keeper makes a save stopping the ball from entering the goal or a defender clears the ball off the goal line there is NO doubt they are playing the ball deliberately to SAVE a goal from being scored. BUT such an action WILL NOT reset offside for the opposition! . This action is granted the same conditional non-reset parameters as a deflection and is only ever considered as a rebound.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Robert
Control is no longer a factor in re-setting offside. Once a player makes a deliberate play of the ball then offside is reset.
Now the difficult part is that a rebound / deflection still does not negate the offside and therein is the challenge for the referee to decide if the contact was in fact a deflection / rebound or a deliberate play. I have looked at a number of plays that IMO were deflections and some have considered them plays. That confusion is borne out in this video
http://garcia-aranda.com/offsideifab/eng004video007.html
Is that a deliberate play by the Red defender or a deflection. FIFA has opined that it is a deflection and that it is offside which I agree with. Others consider it to be a deliberate play.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 29553

See Question: 29751