Question Number: 30269

Law 11 - Offside 4/9/2016

RE: Adult

Dan mc gee of Christchurch , New Zealand asks...

today a guy took a shot on goal but hit the crossbar as he followed up when the ball rebounded he scored but the ref said he was offside.as he was in a offside position when the ball rebounded to him.the goalie did not touch the ball either.I don't get it please help am puzzled

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Dan
Thanks for the question. The referee here needs a refresher course on Law 11 if the event happened as you describe. It just cannot be offside as the only attacking player to touch the ball was the scorer both from the original shot and the rebound.
It could be offside if the ball rebounded to a team mate who was in an offside position at the moment of the shot. That though did not happen from your description. When the shot was taken the scorer was quite obviously behind the ball which is the most onside position a player can be in. Nothing subsequently happened to make the player offside. Even a touch by the goalkeeper would have changed nothing. It should have been a goal.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Dan,
This is a concerning one.
Offside requires a touch from an attacking teammate - this is crystal clear in the wording of the law. It's the touch of a teammate that leads to an offside infringement. It's impossible for a player to put himself onside.

Also, look at it this way - offside position is when a player is closer to the goal line than both the second last line of defence and the ball. So even if he was past the second last line of defence, he wasn't in front of the ball. So there are 2 very clear reasons why the referee got this one wrong.

When I was in an education role in a local referee's association, we loved receiving simple, matter-of-fact feedback around these incidents, because it informed us of a potential area of coaching and allowed us to address this lack of knowledge. While referees are assessed, many incidents like this may not come up in an assessment, so the referee coaches may not find out about this error. I would encourage you to contact your referee's association (protocol may require you to email through your club) with this feedback (don't turn it into the usual sort of complaint that gets sent through, just keep it to this) so this can be addressed.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

Hello Dan
If your description of events is accurate then the referee in that match should be approached by the referee assignor and informed he needs to review the LOTG on offside! A politely worded letter/email rather than a bitter complaint to HELP prevent future errors. You are welcome to quote us in any correspondence as why you thought it necessary to do so. We are loath to critique referees in matches we have not observed. We do not pretend we are not all knowing or always correct but we are willing to stand behind whatever opinion we might hold until proven in error. When the shooter if onside, he can not be switched into a PIOP or ORP from any rebound off an opponent or the goal posts, or crossbar or corner post or referee or an AR!
ONLY a NEW TOUCH of the ball by a teammate can possibly reevaluate his standings.
It is important to remember players and ball are in CONSTANT motion and what LOOKS like offside after a few seconds of play, if it was ONSIDE earlier and NO NEW touch of the ball by a TEAM mate has occurred then NOTHING has changed!

From our pitch to your pitch in the spirit of fair play