Question Number: 16007

Law 11 - Offside 7/12/2007

RE: Select Under 13

Steve Kenton of Ames, IA USA asks...

Player A1 is in an offside position while A2 is dribbling upfield. A2 is challenged and passes laterally in the direction of A1. A defender and A1 both go for the ball. The defender makes contact with the ball, but does not take possession. Can A1 legally take possession or is he offside?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

You omit one bit of information where is A1 in relation to the ball when the ball is last touched or played by A2. Without that information it is impossible to determine if offside position exists.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Steve,
while there appears to be missing data to positively verify if at the time of the lateral pass was player A1 offside positioned.
However, if we assume that he is offside positioned and thus ineligable to participate in active play when A1 begins to challenge the opponent, it is likely the closer he gets the more likely on the AR or referee radar that intefering with an opponent is on the screen for consideration and if the opponent only manages to deflect the ball A1 can still not play the ball as he would be quilty of gaining an advantage.

An opponent must have uncontested possession and control of the ball to reset the offside phase of his adversaries and free the former offside positioned players back into active and involved status
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You say A1 is in offside position but then state the ball was passed laterally to him which would indicate he was even with the ball when it was passed. If this is the case then A1 is NOT offside and may compete for the ball. If A1 was indeed in offside position and the defender did not control the ball, then A1 may not compete for the ball and would be judged offside if he did

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

We need to know where A1 was when his teammate last touched the ball. If lateral means backwards or sideways, then there cannot be offside as A1 was even or behind the ball. If A1 was in a offside position at moment ball touched A2, then A2 would be called for offside if he interfered with play. If I understand your question correctly though, A1 was even or behind so NO OFFSIDE.