Question Number: 30951

Law 11 - Offside 10/25/2016

RE: Intermediate Under 14

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

This question is a follow up to question 30948

FYI, AYSO has defined the offside restart at the place where the infringement has occurred, just as the new laws indicated. Valancia is not far from my Region (Balboa) & we are calling offside as per the new FIFA rules & my udnerstanding is that this came from headquaters. Other than minor modifications for under sge: (ball size, field size, 'do over' throw-ins for U10 & below for the first couple weeks, & 1 major change (no deliberate headers for U12 & under...restart is INFK from location of header or edge of penalty area, which ever is further from goal), AYSO is in line with FIFA laws.

Personally, I don't think the new rule is unfair. Since being in an offside position isn't an infringement, why should we go back to that position if the PIOP later get's involved? After all, if he ran onto his own side & interfered inside his penalty area, you wouldn't take the ball back to his offside position either. Theoretically, if the PIOP was running after a long ball headed toward the opponent's goal & no other teammate was chasing it, you might call it early to avoid a collision with the GK. In that case, I would have the restart where the AR makes the call, rather than wait for an impact, wouldn't you?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Phil,
thanks, good to know about the AYSO. Is that information relevant in all branches in all states? As to interfering with an opponent versus waiting for a touch to interfere with play I agree the AR can determine how close is too close. And it is difficult to imagine an OPP returning all the way into his own PA and actually be guilty of interfering with play but I love the black hole scenarios given it is possible for both teams to have OPPs restricted from active play at the same time. lol It would be prudent for FIFA to say all INDFKS for offside that are the result of a player returning to his own half occur at the kick off point because I can ONLY imagine we have an OPP 2 yards inside the opposition when the ball is miskicked by a team mate very very high and our OPP was on the dead run all the way back into his PA charges into an opponent who is challenging for the ball or heads that ball before anyone else. The INDFK inside the PA would be an interesting conundrum would it not? Especially if they score! lol
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil
Thanks for the update.
Anyway most offside infractions happen close to the position of the offending player at the time of the touch / play by a team mate. The outliers are the ones that happen from time to time after a lengthy run when another onside player can also play the ball. In the sole runner situation I would advise ARs to look closely at the situation as the time taken to flag and the referee to stop play can take a number of seconds which with a fast paced player can result in the player travelling easily 6/ 7 yards enough to make contact.
The law allows for the early flag so it can be used in those situations. The more difficult ones are the situation where the AR is unsure if the ball will make it out of play or not. That can be an unfair one as say the PIOP runs 20 yards to stop a ball going out over the goal line which he does then the IDFK is taken on the goal line. It is not even a goal kick or perhaps the GK getting the opportunity to say go for the ball unchallenged to bring it into the penalty area and to pick it up.
So the majority of times it makes none or little difference yet there will be a few where it does. The a Law should work across all situations not just a few.