Question Number: 30724

Law 11 - Offside 9/7/2016

RE: Competitive Under 16

Mark Ralt of Santa Rosa, California USA asks...

In the LOTG, for a player to be back in an onside position from an offside position, it says when the ball leaves the field and the other team has the restart. For example, an attacker from Team A was offsides and returned to an onside position and then his team got a throw in and he receives a ball directly from his team mate, is he offsides?

I know you can't be offsides from a direct throw in but the laws of the game says if the other team has the restart, would he still be offsides though?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
In your example there is no offside. The ball has gone out of play so the player that was in an offside position is now eligible to get involved in play. It makes no difference if the restart is by the PIOPs team.
In your example even if the PIOP stayed in an offside position the ball out of play resets his position so he can receive the ball from a throw in and not be called offside.
There is no mention of the restart having to be taken by the opponents.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Mark,

I am not sure where you are reading this. I cannot find any reference to the other team having the restart in Law 11 (Offside). Perhaps you are referring to the situation where a player is off the field and can be considered to be on the goal line for the purposes of offside until a stoppage in play or until the other team has started to move the ball forward outside their own penalty area?

In any event, in the scenario you describe the player will not be guilty of an offside offence as it is not possible to be given offside when receiving the ball from a throw-in.