Question Number: 32208

Law 11 - Offside 2/1/2018

RE: High School

Greg Kall of Hillsborough, California United States of America asks...

A question regarding Offside:
Why does the "gaining an advantage" element not take into account deflection from the corner flag?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Greg
It does not have to as the ball is still in play and if the ball hits a corner flag, staying in play which is then played by a player in an offside position then offside must be called when the player interferes with play or an opponent.
It is a very unusual event and an outlier one that the rules choses to deal with as a regular offside.

Answer provided by Referee Joe Manjone

Greg,

In high school play, a deflection from a corner flag is similar to a deflection from a referee. These deflections are considered the same as if the ball was hitting the ground, and the non-deflection offside rules would be in force.

There is no corner flag deflection rule because, in my opinion, any deflection is very slight and rarely changes the position of an offside attacker. As a high school rules committee member for 14 years, I never encountered a rules proposal that mentioned deflection from the corner flags.

If you feel that this should be a rule, I recommend that you propose this rule to the NFHS.

Also, I hope that you have a very successful officiating year.

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 32210