Question Number: 30522

Law 11 - Offside 6/18/2016

RE: Rec Under 11

Kurt of Poolesville , Maryland Usa asks...

The situation is our team defending a free kick from 5 yards or so out of the penalty area. Our team forms a wall and prior to our players pull up towards the wall, leaving several of their players in an offsides position. If the ball goes into the goal from the kick, does it count? It seems that the presence of those defenders blocks the view of our goalkeeper and makes them actively involved in the play.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Kurt
Being in an offside position is not enough on its own. The player in an offside position has to do something more.
Now I assume in your question you mean attackers blocking the goalkeepers view? It makes no difference what the defenders do.
Now interfering with an opponents line of vision is a matter of opinion based on the position of the ball, the position of the PIOP and the goalkeeper.
My view is that it can always be a difficult call. The PIOP can be distance from the GK and the ball in which case the view to the ball may not be obstructed and that is not offside. The closer the PIOP is to the opponent including the GK the more likely to obstruct the line of vision. The further away it is less likely. How far is opinion based.
Have a look at these two videos
https://vimeo.com/106945603
https://vimeo.com/106945484
In both there is a doubt. FIFA I believe has opined that the free kick one is offside as the White attacker is in that position for one reason which is obstruct the line of vision. UEFA opined that the open play one was not offside. I think that the free kick one should have been called. Perhaps if the GK did not make as good an effort to save it that the officials might have opined that he was interfered with?
Have a look at this debate on the goal which was disallowed
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0rzWoApvwWY
That goal should have stood as there was no line of sight interference. The difficulty was that neither the CR nor the AR was sure that the PIOP that moved away from the ball interfered and that he was not in the GKs line of sight. The referee no doubt saw the player movement away rom the ball and with appeals from the defenders guessed that it was interference. While the player was clearly in an offside position I suspect that the referee opined that there was interference.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Kurt,
This is a tricky one.
The LOTG state that it is not in an offence to be in an offside position. Assuming the player doesn't touch the ball (either straight away or from a rebound/deflection), we're looking at interfering with an opponent. This includes scenarios where the attacker is blocking the view of the keeper thus impacting his ability to play the ball (it might not be enough to disallow the goal if, say, the ball went to the far side of the goal and the keeper never had a chance)- or if the physical presence blocks the keeper's path (note the attacker doesn't have to move - simply standing there is enough). Now the laws have been expanded a little and competitions using the new laws if the attacker is making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball or clearly attempts to play a nearby ball in a manner which affects an opponent. As these are new additions there may be varying interpretations on what that means - but I expect it means referees will become a little stricter on attackers camping in an offside position and running for the ball as it's approaching the keeper.
Unfortunately, the presence of the attacker will still pose a problem for the keeper, who needs to make a decision on how to change his positioning, in case that player gets a touch on the ball and may not be penalised for offside (say, if a defender drops back). It may seem unfair that a player in an offside position influences a defender's decisions, but the law is supposed to use clear outcomes rather than assumptions on a player's thoughts.
This poses a few problems for the referee - and the defending team. For one, in these situations where players are quickly moving back and forth and there is often a few players jostling for position with the ball always with the potential to cross the line there are many things for the referee to monitor, meaning an offside position may be missed. Even if an offside position is spotted, the referee may then need to make a judgement on whether the keeper's view was blocked - this can be a tricky decision to make (and to be honest, it's rare that this decision comes up). Without neutral AR's, offside becomes virtually impossible for the referee to accurately judge 100% of the time.
In short, even if an attacker is standing in an offside position, in most cases it won't impact upon the goal - and even when it does you're trusting that the referee agrees with you (and don't forget, the referee has a different view and angle to you - and in most cases a better one). At U/11 the reality is that you may also have a younger, less experienced official who may still be getting used to the intricacies of offside.
And of course this is assuming those players remain in an offside position - the moment another attacker touches the ball, offside position has to be reconsidered - and they may be in an offside position by then.
You may want to consider just how much you want to depend on an offside decision here - especially given that the keeper's decisions may be impacted by the attackers even though they haven't done enough to commit an offence - and decide whether it's better to put a defender on the post as backup. Don't forget, if you do that and the keeper is off the line, then the keeper becomes the 2nd last line of defence and if he is in front of an attacker that may still put them offside.