Question Number: 31878

Law 11 - Offside 10/8/2017

RE: Travel League Under 17

Tom Schaller of Oak Park, IL USA asks...

yesterday I had an interesting argument with a very knowledgable ref. Situation was:
-Blue attacking, forward close to the goal line puts in a nice cross, subsequently falling behind the goal line.
-Defender intercepts cross, brings it down and then passes backwards, kind of to his goalie
-In the meantime attacker gets back on his feet and comes back into field of play
-Intercepts the backpass and scores

Linesman flags for offside, center waives him down (in his interpretation ball was an intentional backpass from defender)
Just to clarify: attacker did not stay outside field of play long at all, basically slid out, got to his feet and came back on - no trickery involved.

My knowledgable colleague says: any time a player comes back from behind the goal line is flagged for offside when receiving the ball - even if the ball comes from opponent.
is that true? Is there a rule that trumps the regular offside rules when a player goes out of play momentarily?
Thx

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI Tom,

t he LOTG state thusly
An attacking player may step or stay off the field of play not to be involved in
active play. If the player re-enters from the goal line and becomes involved in
play before the next stoppage in play, or the defending team has played the
ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area, the player
shall be considered to be positioned on the goal line for the purposes of offside.
A player who deliberately leaves the field of play and re-enters without the
referee's permission and is not penalised for offside and gains an advantage,
must be cautioned

Based on your example nothing was done deliberately

The Attacker maybe in an offside position but it is not an offence and it is not USB thus kudos to the CR for waving the flag off.by understanding the attacker slid off through natural playing action and did not deliberately step out to show non involvement, so his return into the field of play is not a reason to punish him for offside unless the ball is last touched by his teammates which you indicate did not occur. The LOTG also state

A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who
deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save by any opponent) is
not considered to have gained an advantage.

The pass from the defender was an indication of control and possession not a save or a deflection or rebound thus I see no reason to award offside? There is no reason to caution the defender which if the CR HAD considered him as re-entering without permission would have done so I am ok with the goal and not ok with the knowledgeable colleague's knowledge here! He needs to reassess and change his thinking on this matter. It is understandable though that when the LOTG undergo changes these things crop up .

Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Tom
The new amendment to Law 11 has confused your knowledgeable friend.
As described it is not offside as the ball was played by a defender to the returning player so the CR was 100% correct that it was not offside. That just cannot be offside. The only and last attacking player to touch / play the ball was the Blue player himself that slid off the field of play so there was absolutely no possibility of offside. Even if the ball rebounded off the defender back to the Blue player it still could not be offside.
The AR either thought the ball was played by another Blue attacker or may have been confused the recent change to Law 11. The change states that an attacking player may step or stay off the field of play not to be involved in active play. If the player re-enters from the goal line and becomes involved in play before the next stoppage in play, or the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area, the player shall be considered to be positioned on the goal line for the purposes of offside.
Now that does not apply to players who slide off or move off as part of play. It is to prevent the player who deliberately moves off to avoid offside, stays off and then re enters to gain a benefit. As the change only applies for the purpose of offside so if there is no play by a team mate to a PIOP there is no possible offside to be considered.
You need to put your friend right on this.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Tom,
My colleague ref Dawson has quoted the relevant sections of the law. There is nothing there (or anywhere else in the laws) that 'trumps the regular offside rules' so your friend is mistaken. When a player leaves the field like this, the laws only specify how this should be considered in terms of offside position. Since it is not an offence to be in an offside position and the other parts of the offside law have not been contravened, there is no offside offence.

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