Question Number: 32099

High School 12/13/2017

RE: High School

Jeff Reiner of Captain Cook, Hawaii USA asks...

An attacker is NOT in an offside position when his teammate touches/kicks the ball toward the goal. The attacker runs in an offside position before the ball arrives. Is it an offside foul?

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

Hi Jeff,
All that matters is the position of the player at the moment the ball is last touched by a teammate. If the player is not in an offside position at that moment, then it doesn't matter where they run afterwards. Offside position is judged at each moment of an attacking teammate's touched.

In your case, no offence would be commetted.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jeff
This in one of the fundamental tenets of NOT being offside. All that matters us the position if the player at the moment of the touch by his team mate. If he was onside at that touch he is not offside even by running on to the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Jeff,
As described, this is not an offside offence. From 1956 until 1996 this was included in the laws as IFAB Decision 1 to Law XI with the following wording:

''Off-side shall not be judged at the moment the player in question receives the ball, but at the moment when the ball is passed to him by one of his own side. A player who is not in an off-side position when one of his colleagues passes the ball to him or takes a free-kick, does not therefore become off-side if he goes forward during the flight of the ball.''

The wording was removed as part of a major re-write of the laws in 1997, not because it was invalid (it is still as true today as it was then) but because - along with various other provisions - it was apparently felt to be self-evident.