Question Number: 32545

Law 11 - Offside 6/25/2018

RE: AYSO (Youth Rec League) Under 11

Murphy of SB, USA asks...

Hi I recently refereed a youth all star tournament and think I might have missed an offsides that I had not thought about or asked about and here I am trying to make a decision of whether it was offsides or not. I think it was offsides, but the calls didn't affect the games. Phew! Ok, so a player in an offsides position receives a ball off the crossbar and then shoots the ball at the net. Is it offsides or is in a legal play? Thank you

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Ok Murphy .
The question requires you t0 understand offside is a TWO Part equation.

POSITION & INVOLVEMENT

The part YOU need to ascertain is this player in an offside position WHEN the shot was taken by his team mates last ball touch ???? NOT was he offside positioned on the rebound as he COULD have moved or so too the defenders to make him appear offside positioned. He could of course been in a PIOP at the time of the shot an by remaining there & playing the rebound he is guilty of interfering with play by gaining an advantage due to his OFFSIDE positioning
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi
The first question is whether the player was in an offside position at the moment of the original shot. If the answer is yes then we go to the next part which is involvement in active play. Did the PIOP subsequently interfere with play or an opponent. If the answer to that is yes then we have an offside.
Now there will be times when the ball rebounds / deflect off an opponent or the frame of a goal to an attacking player who was in an offside position at the moment of the shot. Those rebounds do not reset offside and it is offside for gaining an advantage by being in an offside position.
So in your example if the player played the rebound which came off the frame of the goal and he was in an offside position at the moment of the original shot (not when he receives the ball) it is called offside when he plays the ball.
Similarly a save by the goalkeeper does not reset offside either so a ball that rebounds to a PIOP from a goalkeeper save is also called offside when the PIOP interferes. The key to the decision is the position of the attacker at the moment of the original shot.

Answer provided by Referee Peter Grove

Hi Murphy,
I'm afraid there is a little more information required in order to answer this query. You don't say who took the shot or where this player was when the shot was struck. However if the player was in an offside position at that moment the original shot was taken by a team mate and then played the ball, this is the offside offence known as 'gaining an advantage'.

The part of the law that expresses this principle is as follows:

''A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is [...] penalised on becoming involved in active play by [...] gaining an advantage by playing the ball or interfering with an opponent when it has rebounded or been deflected off the goalpost, crossbar, match official or an opponent''