Question Number: 16169

Law 11 - Offside 7/31/2007

RE: rec and competative Under 12

peter andrukiewicz of crossville, tn usa asks...

i recently took the referee cert course and test. a question on the test regarding offside was confusing to me. can you help me understand it. player #11 is in an offside postion. player #8 is attacking. player #11 moves to an onside position where he/she receives a pass. player #11 should be:
a) called for offside
b) not called for offside

i choose b due to the fact that the statement tells us that he moved to an onside postion before he received the ball, however, the correct answer was a.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Obviously your instructor failed to make this point clear to you: A player in an offside position when the ball is last touched by his team mate can never, Yup - never, get involved in play until three things happen.

1. the opponents gain control of the ball

2. the ball is again touched by a team mate and, by then, the player has repositioned so that he is no longer offside

3. the ball is no longer in play.

There exists the possibility the time period where a player can't get involved can be minutes rather than seconds. Imagine an offside colleague when you put the ball forward. No opponent moves to the ball. Time marches on. No one touches the ball and there is no flag. The offside player runs to the ball and touches it. Offside. Far fetched, yes -- but you need to understand this fact before you can understand when an offside offence has happened.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

If the test question was worded exactly as you have stated, it was poorly written. The problem is the sentence, "player #11 moves to an onside position where he/she receives a pass". We aren't told whether #11 moves to an onside position before or after #8 last touches the ball. Given the answer is offside, the assumption is that the movement occurred after the pass. The important timing is not when the ball is received, but rather when the last touch was made by #8.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

As Referee Chuck notes above, one of 3 things must occur for a player who was in an offside position to be able to return to an onside position. Unless and until one of those events occur, Player #11 is doomed to remain in an offside position (usually only seconds, but...) and can't legally play the ball. The question is deliberately tricky to see if you know how a player can become onside again, and it isn't simply by moving to a place that looks like it is onside. This is not commonly understood by players, fans or coaches, which is why we refs get yelled at so much when we raise the flag for a player who LOOKS like he's onside, but who ran there to become part of play from an offside position without one of the 3 events occurring. It's lonely out here sometimes! Hope that is helpful.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Peter,
the written language at times is nebulous with *exact* meaning. The question is likely trying to convey the message that an offside player cannot put himself back onside.
The question could make a better point of saying When a player last touches/plays the ball if there is an an offside POSITIONED team mate can that offside positioned team mate run into an onside position to recieve the ball.? NO he can not because he was offside positioned at the time of the last touch he can not involve himself in active play. Even if he ran back into his own half of the field! The key point is offside position is SET in stone at that moment the ball is last touched by a team mate. One of the three points raised by my colleagues must occur to allow a new phase of offside for the restriction to be lifted. Cheers

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

The question is on a current entry level examination. It has been written this way, or very close to it since, at least, 2000. The test question is very specifically worded to make sure a new referee understands a player cannot remove the restrictions placed upon him if he is in an offside position when a colleague last touches the ball.

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

It matters when number #8 passed the ball. If the ball was passed after #11 was in an onside position, then no offside. If #8 passed ball and then after the touch #11 ran to an onside position, then he is offside. Offside is judged at the moment ball touched teammate. I believe the test question is worded so that the player comes from an offside position to an onside position to play the ball AFTER the teammate touched ball. Thus it is offside.

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