Question Number: 16726

Law 11 - Offside 9/16/2007

RE: Travel Under 12

Rebecca of Old Tappan, NJ USA asks...

What is an Off Side. I usely play left mid and the ref always say off side and I don't really understand what they mean and I am way to scared to ask my coach because I should know what it means but I don't. So please tell me!

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Rebecca,
It is a shame that you feel you cannot approach your coach for information!

In fact I am unsure if I am more upset that you think it is so or if the coach is such a poor coach he fails to do justice to his responsibilities?
Talk to your parents if the coach is so intimidating that you feel under pressure not to confide in him, because in life the only dumb question are the ones unasked!

Offside is a two part affair where by position is established at each touch of the ball by a player. The second part is involvement when an offside positioned player is held accountable for participating in play when he was restricted earlier through positional determination.

You need to read law 11! You need to understand that without offside 7 foot plus players would seagull or hang about the opposing goal, blocking the keeper, simply waiting for the long ball to arrive.

Although you are likely 11 years old you are smart enough to read and write the question so in my opinion you are bright enough to get this offside thing.

Our editor Chuck Fleischer has a brief synopsis (explanation) on our front webpage on offside! FIFA has an interactive offside presentation that you can watch and we have thousands of questions on offside in our date base that you can search through!

Offside only has an INDFK restart!
This restart occurs from where the POSITION was of the earlier found offside player not necessarily from where the INVOLVEMENT occurs. That is because the ball and people move about the field during the travel time of the ball from the time it was LAST touched by the team mate.

You need to know that the last touch of the ball refers to YOUR teammate when offside applies to your team and when the opponent last touch the ball offside applies to their team.

Can you grasp that offside against your team occurs only in the opposing half where they are awarded an INDFK?
Offside in favor of your team (that is against your opponents ) occur in your half? Your team is awarded the INDFK!

The opposing team has 11 players (always consider the keeper as a player when thinking about offside), the 1st part of offside requires that YOUR player is within the opposing half and CLOSER to the opposing goal line than any 10 of them or as we refer (the second last opponent) when the ball is played (LAST TOUCHED) by a teammate. This is a POSITIONAL determination to your player's location within the opposing half made at the moment the teammate touches the ball. It does not matter if the ball was deliberately kicked or deflected off the team mate as long as the referee SEES a physical touch of body and ball offside position is THEN at that precise moment evaluated and STORED for what COULD happen later! It is like a still picture snap shot of where everyone is at that moment in time and stored for future consideration.

The reason is it stored is because it is NOT an offence to be JUST offside positioned!!!
The infringement requires the offside positioned player to actually INVOLVE themselves in play AFTER the teammate had last touched the ball!

Now think a minute, position is one part!
What determines position?
It is WHERE the player WAS at the precise moment of LAST physical contact of the ball by a TEAMMATE!
Once the offside position is determined and stored that offside positioned player can no longer participate in active play
Nothing an offside positioned player can do will change that!

To reset the restriction the ball must go out of play, the opposition must recover and have uncontested ball possession or a NEW teammate's touch of the ball has occurred where the offside player is no longer in an offside position due to movement of themselves and or players about the field

If the offside positional restriction is in effect a referee or AR will raise the flag and call the offside infringement WHEN involvement occurs by that restricted player as interfering with play (this means touching the ball or being the only player in all reasonable probability of doing so) interfering with an opponent (this means creating a situation where an opponent is hindered or prevented from playing the ball) to or gaining an advantage (being able to play the ball after it rebounds off an opponent or crossbar or post!)

Words generally confuse things as mental pictures are not always clear! You need to look through the laws of the game and see the pictures that are contained to grasp them in a better light. Go to the FIFA site FIFA.com Do not be afraid to ask questions and please find a better relationship with your coach so you are learning and enjoying the game
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

Go ahead and ask him Rebecca, after you have read and begin to understand it better. Let's see if you know more than he does! I'd be willing to wager you will know more.

Offside is a simple thing if you are in their half and past the last but one opponent or the last two opponents you can't be closer to their goal line than the ball when your guy touches the ball. That's all it is. The fun thing about offside is this: if you are the last player on your team to touch the ball there can be no offside offence given you.

Read some of the questions that pop up when you search for Law 11 or Offside on the site.

Regards,