Question Number: 16418

Law 11 - Offside 8/24/2007

RE: Competitive Under 15

John of Melbourne, FL USA asks...

This came up in a recent Coach Licensing course.

Attacker 1 has a break away shot on goal, but hits it directly at the keeper. The keeper easily saves the ball and punts it up field. Meanwhile Attacker 1 strolls up field and is in an offside position.

Attacker 2 fields the keepers punt and Attackers 2 & 3 start another break. Attacker 1, still in an offside position, sees the play heading in his direction and sprints to the outside to get out of the way. Defender 1 sees Attacker 1 sprint outside and chases him. This leaves the middle open for Attackers 2 & 3 to attack the goal and they score.

Should Attacker 1 be flagged for offside? His sprint "caused" the defender to be pulled from center and contributed to the success of the attack. Therefore he interfered with an opponent and should be sanctioned for offside. This was the official line at the course.

I would think that the actions of Attacker 1 (trying to remove himself from the play) would preclude him from being flagged. It's not his fault the defender chased after a player who was not eligible to get involved in the play. Have I missed something here?

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

You have not and like so many coaching sessions, their reasoning is incorrect. Would be better to have a referee do the course as this is training coaches to yell at referees due to a lack of knowledge. Attacker 1 sprinting towards the sideline did not "cause" anything other than indicate he was aware of his position and taking himself out of play. This is similar to the scenario where 2 attackers are on the keeper and the keeper leaves the attacker with the ball to go mark the other attacker in offside position. It's not the responsibility of the attackers where the defenders move to. The player in offside position should not be penalized for the mistake of an opponent. It is not an offence to be in offside position. In order for a player in offside position to be penalized he has to DO something and merely running away from the ball does not qualify. Now, change this just a little. Attacker 1 realizes he's in offside position. He turns to run away from the ball to take himself out of play but inadvertantly blocks an opponent from getting to or towards the ball. Now Attacker 1 has interfered with an opponent and it's up to the referee to decide whether this is sufficient for an offside call.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Bollox, bollox, bollox. You gotta love the official line of a coaching course where the Laws of the Game are concerned. Referee instructors have a much better grasp of these situations than do coach instructors. Sometimes I think a coach attending one of "these" instructional periods is a detriment. You are absolutely correct to disbelieve what you heard John because you're spot on.

The defender following someone is a defender who has not been taught to let the referee crew tend to enforcing the Laws of the Game. He is the first player who will scream when he gets caught not doing his job. Defenders should tend to the task at hand, defeating an attack. They should be wary of what's going to happen when the attack runs the ball nearer the goal line than the lazy attacker and passes off to him. This time he's going to be able to get involved and the new coaches MUST be aware the only way to guard against this happening is midfielders marking up before it happens. I'll bet the coach instructors failed to mention this little tidbit!

Well done John.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I find it ironic that a coaching course is conducted seperately from an officiating course when all parties should be meeting to understand and apprecdiate the job and responsibilities we all share in this great game.

Interfering with an opponent requires an action by the offside player that in some MEASURABLE way prohibts an opponent from challenging for ball posession. The fact that defenders choose to chase players that DO NOT Have the ball or mark players in offside positions is not an infraction but a poor defending choice.

If the offside player was to physically block or screen causing the opponent to go around or alter his path to the ball or perhaps verball scream to distract then interfering could apply.
As a coach, If my defender ran to the outside and followed the offside attacker leaving two unmarked attackers with the ball alone on the inside chances are a substitution will be coming in short order!
Cheers