Question Number: 31637

Law 11 - Offside 7/7/2017

RE: Competative High School

Todd Seiman of Fort Wayne, IN United States asks...

Attaching player in an offside position. Comes back across the half line and controls the ball. Still in an offsides position in relationship to the defensive players but in their own half of the field.

Are they offside ?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Todd,
based on your description of events, yes the attacker is guilty of offside by interfering with play, the moment he touched the ball, irrespective of the 2nd last defender or the fact they are inside his own half because once you are determined to be in an offside position even returning to your own half does not free you from the restriction of non involvement. The CHANGE is the INDFK is NOW taken from where the INVOLVEMENT occurred thus the opposition receives an INDFK inside his OWN half!

There is NO possible offside IF the player WAS inside his own half when the ball is played by a teammate even if the 2nd last opponent was standing on the attacker's own goal line with nine other opponents as it is impossible to be guilty of an offside position if you are ALL ready inside your own half.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Todd
As described this would be offside. It makes no difference as to where the player in an offside position interfered with play to complete the offside offence which can be in his own half.
Under FIFA Law 11 the IDFK is now taken in the players own half where he touched the ball.
Probably expect NFHS to follow suit yet for the moment in a HS game the IDFK is taken from where the PIOP was located when the ball was last played/ touched by his team mate which was in the opponents half.
Pretty rare offence yet it does happen from time to time.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Todd,
You say the player was in an offside position but you don't say when. If they were in an offside position when the ball was last touched by a team mate and then come back into their own half to play the ball they have committed an offside offence. It doesn't matter if they were still in an offside position (or not) relative to the opponents at the time of playing the ball, it only matters where they were when the ball was last touched by a team mate.

Under the IFAB Laws of the Game, the resulting free kick would be taken from the place where the player became involved in active play, which in this case was in their own half. In an NFHS game, I believe the free kick would be taken from the player's original offside position in the opponent's half, since the NFHS has not announced a change in the positioning for an offside free kick similar to that done by the IFAB, as far as I am aware.