Question Number: 15923

Law 11 - Offside 7/1/2007

RE: Under 15

Simon of Rockingham, WA Australia asks...

during a recent game the opposion team sent out the goal keeper as a normal player and put a defender in the goal area, they then made the other defenders move up to the half way line and thus leaving just one player in there own half. This was done so the if any of our strikers went over the half way line they were offside. Is there any rule regarding this tactic?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Simon,

This tactic is entirely legal! What puzzles me the most is why on Earth would you take the goalkeeper past the half-way line leaving only an outfield defender in the goal area. The same effect could be accomplished by keeping the goalkeeper put and bringing all of the other players into your team's half.

Now, while this may seem a bit annoying to you there is absolutely nothing that the referee can do to stop the other team from doing this.

But, there is something that you can do... use the same law to your advantage and remember that your player can start a run on his own half at the time the ball is kicked, then run onto it receiving it on a break away in the other half of the field and he would still be 'onside' (the condition of not having been deemed to be in an offside position).

I would imagine if I were a coach - I would absolutely LOVE IT if the other team attempted to pull this type of tactic against me. This would make counter-attacking very easy and what's more I have a feeling by using a long ball and getting several breakaways on the opposing "no-hands-allowed-keeper" - this might get the other team to stop pulling silly tactical maneuvers anyway.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Simon,
I share my colleagues Ref Montanino's utter disbielief for this as a tactic? I have on rare occassions sent or seen keepers inside the penalty area of an opponent in the dying moments of a game on a set corner piece where a goal to tie or win was needed.

Often a good keeper is an exceptional athelete and often quite tall so good on headers in the PA at the opposing end and many could be exceptional player material if they were no so needed in goal! Yet a keeper is the only one capable of handling the ball inside his PA so having a defender there who can not use his hands seems rather odd??

The keeper is simply the last opponent more often than not by the nature of his position. In essence he is but one of 11 players who can fit that role so the tactic is strange but not illegal.
Simply understand, as my estemeed colleague Ref Montanino points out, that you time an onside players run into your opponents half JUST after the ball is struck and that crap tastic tactic will soon stop!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

It doesn't matter who is in goal or, for that matter, where in their own half of the field the player is, this is a legal, although incredibly stupid tactic. Why on earth a coach would leave a field player in goal is beyond me. The simple thing for the opponent's to do is put their forwards on the center line, wait until the ball is kicked forward by a teammate and then run towards the now helpless field player that's in goal. I have seen coaches try this and invariably they have no idea what constitutes an offside infraction. Also invariably, the opponents get a couple easy goals before the coach realizes the referee crew is not going to penalize a player for offside if he was in own half of the field at the moment the ball was played by a teammate.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Ah, the offside trap. Teams live and die by the offside trap. This is an example of the easiest way for an offside trap to kill off a team. It is obvious and easily defeated by a team that understands Law 11.

In the event you play in a league where your opponents are unsophisticated this is a superb tactic -- once or twice, after that even the dullest tool in the woodshed will figure it out then attack in numbers you won't be able to defeat, especially without a goalkeeper between the sticks.

As a player/coach when I played as keeper I was very successful in moving to a position nearer the halfway line than my last fullback. When I did this I looked at the linesman [they were called that way back then] just to be sure he KNEW what I was doing. If he knew I continued doing it to spring the trap. It worked a great majority of the time because footballers have had drummed into their skulls "don't pass the last defender". What I did was make the last defender the final opponent. That placed them offside in a position they couldn't understand. GOTCHA. If you try to explain this to your guys you better have an absolute understanding of Law 11 and be able to impart this knowledge to them, especially your goaltender.

Regards,