Question Number: 32363

Law 11 - Offside 4/12/2018

RE: Adult

AG Hagan of Reykjavik, Reykjavik Iceland asks...

This question is a follow up to question 26220

So if player is in offside position and the goalkeeper punches the ball forward (not save) and it hits teammate and then goes to the offside player you would consider that to be an offside?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

HI AG,
we COULD, not that we would or should. It would be ITOOTR! COULD the keeper have caught the ball? WAS he being challenged?

the way you describe it I would say the punch is a parry, a deliberate possession then release thus offside no longer applies. It is NOT a dual rebound /deflection sequence.

On the opposite side of the fence if the referee considered the PUNCH as a deliberate save with that rebound deflecting off an unsuspecting defender then the oppositions' offside restrictions are not reset and offside could be correct!

I have on occasions awarded an offside after multiple rebounds & deflections One was in a men's 2nd division match up, a nearby PIOP but NOT interfering watches as keeper dives to push the ball off far post, ball rebounds off post into the back of one defender's left shoulder off the knee of another defender over to our PIOP who thought, thank you ! I said uh no and blew the whistle . BUT REF the ball went off 3 of their players . True but no defender deliberately played the ball except the keeper & that was a save!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi AG
Yes it would not be offside as the last player to play the ball is an opponent. From reading your description here it reads like the disallowed Sane goal in the Manchester City v Liverpool game. The Liverpool goalkeeper punched the ball away yet it deflected back off a Liverpool player to the Manchester City player who was in an offside position. It should not have been called as offside.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi AG,
If, as you say, the play on the ball by the keeper is not a save, it cannot lead to an offside offence. A player is not offside if there was a deliberate play by an opponent that causes the ball to come to them.