Question Number: 15194

Law 11 - Offside 4/16/2007

RE: Competitive Under 13

Brian Bartler of Elmhurst, IL USA asks...

We had a call in our game yesterday that I had not seen before. We had an attacker #1 with the ball driving to goal on the right side just outside the right goal post.

Attacker #2 ran be the last defender and was running to goal at the left goal post.

Attacker #1 with the ball takes a shot at goal from about 12 yards out on the right and puts the ball in the upper left corner. The goalie was 2-3 yards in front of the end line on attacker #1's side of the goal. At the time of the shot, attacker #2 is 1-2 yards in front of attacker #1 in line with the left goal post.

The referee waived off the goal and called interference by attacker #2.Is this the correct call? I know in the FIFA interpretation of the offsides law there is consideration for distracting the opponent but he was not interfering with the goalie's vision, and did not distract the goalie with any movement or words etc.

Thanks. Brian

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Just going by what you describe, this is a bad call. The player in offside position at the time the ball is kicked by his teammate MUST do something to distract the keeper or otherwise become involved in play. It is NOT an offence to simply be in offside position.

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

If it happened exactly as you say this goal should not have been disallowed. However, if in the referee's opinion the player distracted the opponent or otherwise interfered in active play, then he would be correct.

You must always remember your perception is different from the Referee's and only one of your's counts regarding facts connected with play, can you guess whose that might be?

Incidentally, a play very similar to this happened this weekend in the Premier League of England, but in that game the goal was allowed.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The difficulty in determining offside from afar is angle of view and sound tends to diminish substantially over distance. These are used by the referee team in determining whether or not an offside offence has happened.

Granted there are referees who, for some reason or another, have been allowed to develop their own ideas of what offside is. You could very well have seen "one of those".

Regards,