Question Number: 31624

Law 11 - Offside 6/29/2017

RE: Under 11

J of Denver, CO USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26204

This question is a follow up to question 26204:

Player A receives ball onside, dribbles forward past defenders, and shoots; Keeper B saves by ball deflection; Player A receives ball past second to last defender; and kicks ball into goal.

Is Player A Offsides, or not?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
This is NOT offside nor can it be. The last attacking player to play / touch the ball is PlayerA and he was in an onside position behind the ball when he shot anyway. As the ball was deflected / rebounded off an opponent from the shot by Player A effectively to himself via a rebound he cannot be called offside as he was not in an offside position nor was a team mate involved.
It could only be offside if it was a team mate of Player A who was in an offside position at the moment of the shot by his team mate A. That offside position would be ahead of the ball. The only way to stay onside in such a position is to stay behind the ball. The basis of offside in Q 26204 was that the team mate receiving the ball was in an offside position at the moment of the shot by his team mate and that the rebound by an opponent did not reset offside. Offside can only be reset by the ball going out of play or the ball being deliberately played by an opponent not a save or a rebound or an onside team mate beginning a new phase of play placing the offside positioned team mate in an onside position.
A word of caution about questions that are older than June in the year that they are asked. Law changes each June can and does make older answers dated and while correct at time of questioning they may not be correct now. In this case the answer is still the same as in 2012

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi J,
A player cannot put themselves 'offside'.
If we review Law 11, you'll see that a TEAMMATE must be involved. An attacker touches or plays the ball, then an offence is committed if a TEAMMATE then becomes involved in active play.

Also, this player isn't even in an offside position; you cannot be in an offside position if you are behind the ball when it is touched by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi J,
For an offside offence to be possible, the player must be in an offside position when the ball is touched by a team mate. In your example when the last touch by a team mate occurred, the player was in an onside position and there was no subsequent touch by a team mate during the play you describe so there can be no offside.