Question Number: 15793

Law 11 - Offside 6/13/2007

RE: Under 15

Jake of Perth, WA Australia asks...

I am a junior linesman at the moment. And i am wondering it would be labeled an offside offense if a ball being passed to a player in an offside position first bounced off a defender and then landed at the offside players feet?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Jake,
If a teammate of the offside player, touched, kicked or played the ball before it deflected off an opponent then offside criteria still applies and if an offside positioned player received that fortuitous bounce he would be involved and as such guilty of an offside infringement!

A DEFLECTION of the ball off a defender changes nothing of the offside criteria as it applies to their opponents! If there was offside position established by the opposition when their team-mate last touched the ball those that were offside remain unable to participate in play!

The interesting thing is that same deflection could creates offside positions for the defending team at the same time there are opposing players offside positioned. Thus players from both teams are at that moment restricted from involvement.
While a deflection of the ball off a player will not save an opponent from offside position as a last touch of the ball it sets into motion offside criteria for the player's team as well!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

Yes. The only way offside gets reset is if a defender controls the ball.

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