Question Number: 30922

Law 11 - Offside 10/19/2016

RE: Competitive High School

Mark Ralt of San Jose, CA USA asks...

Case #4: Suppose the orange team gives the ball to the green team (1C) and he dribbles it up the to the 6 yard box. Green 1A, who was previously in an offside position, goes in for the counter attack and gets a cross from green 1C and scores. Would this be offsides since this player recieved a direct pass from being in an offsides position?
Case 4a: What if 1C gave a diagonal pass to 1A, would that still be offsides?
Case 4b: What if 1A received a ball that was in front of him, would that still be offsides?

Pic for #4: http://tinypic.com/r/i6mblg/9
4a: http://tinypic.com/r/1t4x36/9
4b: http://tinypic.com/r/4tvkux/9

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Mark
The position of 1A is irrelevant until he interferes with play by touching the ball or interferes with an opponent. So there cannot be offside as 1C does not pass the ball to anyone as he runs forward. As 1C is not interfering with play then play continues.
At the moment the ball is then played by 1C was his team mate 1A in an onside position? If 1A was behind the ball at that MOMENT of the pass he is in an onside position so there cannot be any offside. If in 4a 1A was behind the ball there is no offside and in 4b it is the position of 1A at the moment of the pass that counts not the direction of the pass nor where he touches the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mark,
hmmm offside still the bugaboo?

-Green 1C has ball gift from the Orange, ok so he dribbles into orange 6 yard area good for him,
-Green player 1A is a 'seagull 'waiting for some reason down around the Orange goal. As his team mate C 1 approaches does 1A green DO anything to affect the Orange team by interfering with their ability to challenge green C 1 or block the line of sight of the orange keeper from playing the ball? If not then he is not yet involved and there is no need to stop play.
-NOW green C 1 chooses to PASS the ball across to green 1 A. QUESTION? Where is green 1 A now at the exact moment the pass /last touch occurs? If he is STILL in an offside position then it was a foolish pass as ORANGE team receive an INDFK out for offside involvement. IF however GREEN A 1 has moved into a non offside position in being further or even from the opposing goal line than the 2nd last opponent or the ball there will be no offside and a good goal!

Direction of the pass is unimportant to the offside it is position of players with respect to one another the ball and the goal line. Players and ball move in all directions at different speeds all the time. FREEZE FRAME the moment the ball is LAST physically touched by a team mate ONLY then do you know if the team mates are free to play or are restricted because they were in an offside position at that EXACT moment!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Mark,
Once again, where was player 1C when !A last played the ball. If 1C was not in an offside position, then he would not be offside. If he was in an offside position, then he would be offside. The determination is the position of the player receiving the ball when the ball was last played by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Mark,

I have to say I'm a little at a loss as to understand why you think it matters where the player was previously. As in all your other cases, the previous position of the player has no bearing on the matter, only where he was when the last touch by a team mate occurred.