Question Number: 15160

Law 11 - Offside 4/11/2007

RE: COMP High School

Ryan of Flower Mound, TX USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 14921

FIFA Q&A says the following:

7. The ball is played to a player in an offside position by a team-mate, but a defending player touches it deliberately with his hand. What action does the referee take?

If, in the opinion of the referee, the player in the offside position
should be penalised for being involved in active play, he will penalise
the offside and restart the match with an indirect free kick.

However, if in the referee's opinion, the player should not be penalised for being involved in active play, a direct free kick, or a penalty kick, will be awarded against the player who handled the ball.

Taking that into consideration what should the referee do in this case? The ball is played to a player in an offside position by a team-mate, but a defending player fouls the attacking player deliberately after the pass was made.

It seems the same answer to the previous question would apply to this modification.

If, in the opinion of the referee, the player in the offside position
should be penalised for being involved in active play, he will penalise
the offside and restart the match with an indirect free kick.

However, if in the referee's opinion, the player should not be penalised for being involved in active play, a direct free kick, or a penalty kick, will be awarded against the player who committed the foul along with a possible misconduct.

Is this a correct interpretation?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

You are correct because offside criteria are in effect at the moment the pass (last touch of the ball by the teammate occurs) Thus OFFSIDE involvement can occur before the handling or before the foul> However being offside positioned is in of itself NOT an offence which is why as an opinion that distinction of whether an offside infringement HAS occurred or has not YET occurred ahead of the foul is to be made.
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The referee must understand if an offside offence is judged to have happened then play has stopped. This presents the referee with new circumstances if he must deal with other happenings involving the offside player, specifically misconduct! It is entirely possible to have misconduct, deal with it by a caution or a sending-off AND still restart indirect against the attack for offside.

Few coaches and players are going to understand this so be prepared to be verbally assaulted/abused by those ignorant of the Laws.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Well......if the player in the offside position got involved in the play at the moment his teammate touched the ball...offside. The handling the ball deliberatly occurred after the fact. If the referee feels that the offside positioned player did not get involved in play, then we have a foul for handling the ball deliberatly.

Answer provided by Referee Nathan Lacy

An interesting question. One point that I would like to bring in here is the aspect of the player actually getting involved in play. As I understand some of the current guidance regarding offside there is more of an inclination for the player in the offside position to actually receive the ball prior to the call being made; i.e. flag being raised. With this in mind, if the defender handles the ball before the ball has had a chance to be played by the offensive player in the offside position then it would seem appropriate to award the foul for the handling infraction, book if appropriate, and restart with the DFK. The offside POSITION is determined at the time the ball is last played by the teammate but the infraction itself does not occur until involvement takes place. Food for thought. All the best,