Question Number: 15064

League Specific 3/29/2007

RE: Select Under 13

Lindsay of paris, Kentucky United States of America asks...

My friend and I were just certified and we are reffing a game on saturday. && it is a U12 game, does offsides apply to U12 or not?

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Check the local league, but I bet it does. Offside usually applied to everything over U10 and in most cases even U10

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Lindsay; it's OFFSIDE with no "s" on the end! Every League I know follows Law 11 at U12. Good luck!

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

There's probably some well-meaning do-gooder soccer board out there that thinks offside is too complicated of a concept to teach. After all, the spectators don't understand it, so why do we expect the U12 players to figure it out?

The truth of the matter is that if you have low expectations for kids, that's exactly what they will achieve - low results. 8-year-olds have figured out how to run an offside trap. It's not too hard for 11-year-olds to figure out the basic concept. Keep something between yourself and the goal you are attacking - 2 defenders, ball, or half line.

We have an interesting situation in our area. Our local rec board has no problem having offside apply in U7/U8 games - although we do put a note in the rule modifications that the offside has to be obvious enough for the referee to see it. The regional select league has decided that the U9's and U10's can't handle it, and it doesn't apply. So we have kids that play with the rule for 2 or 3 years in rec, they get selected to the regional league as U9 or U10 and don't have offside anymore. Boy, are there a lot of offside calls in the first few games of the fall when they move up to U11!

Can you tell I'm not in favor dumbing-down the rules?