Question Number: 30413

Law 11 - Offside 5/14/2016

RE: Rec Under 11

JOHN CORCORAN of NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia United States asks...

Player A is in an offside position. Player B kicks the ball on goal and it bounces off the crossbar to Player A still in an offside position. I called him offsides. Is that the correct call?

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

Absolutely correct. Offside position is 'frozen' when a teammate touches the ball, and a player in an offside position may not get involved in play until something else happens: the ball is touched again by a teammate or it is played by an opponent (except for a save). The goalpost is not a player, so offside considerations did not change.

Incidentally, it doesn't matter whether A is still in an offside position when he plays the ball. That position was established back when B played the ball, so A cannot become involved in play.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi John
Yes totally correct call. It is gaining an advantage by being in an offside position.
Law 11 advice states and I quote from the LotG book
* 'gaining an advantage by being in that position' means playing a ball
#1 that rebounds or is deflected to him off the goalpost, crossbar or an opponent having been in an offside position
#2 that rebounds, is deflected or is played to him from a deliberate save by an opponent having been in an offside position *
Point 1 covers your scenario. There is nothing the offside positioned player can do to get onside again. He has to wait for another phase of play involving players or the ball to go out of play. I might add that it can be a difficult call to make particularly when the player can be in an onside position at the moment of the shot and then runs forward to play the rebound in an offside position. That is not offside yet the positioning of playing the rebound will be similar. The difference is the starting position of the player at the moment the ball was played / touched by his team mate. Once onside he cannot subsequently be offside and the opposite of that is once offside he cannot become onside again.