Question Number: 17114

Law 11 - Offside 10/5/2007

RE: rec, competive Under 17

Steve Reese of Santa Maria, CA USA asks...

During active play, a player A on the attacking team is in the offside position. His teammate, player B, is advancing the ball by dribbling and attempts a pass/shot towards goal that bounces off his defender to player A. I am the center referee and I call offside. After the game the coach and asst coach come over to talk to me about the call. They are friends of mine. They believe that since player B did not intend to pass the ball to player A there should be no offside. I told them that player A gained an advantage and also became involved in play while in the offside position. Since there was no change in possession player A was then offside. I would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

Steve, go back and read Law 11 carefully. The answer is there, in black and white. If player B is in an offside position at the moment the ball is last touched or played by a teammate and then player B becomes involved in play by gaining an advantage or interfering with play or players, then he is offside. It doesn't matter one whit whether A intended to pass the ball to B or not, or what the ball touches on its way to player B (unless it is another teammate in an onside position which resets the play) - what matters is A is the last one to touch it before B plays it. Your call was correct, and next time you can elaborate on your good reasons.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

There is a moment in time when passed no player in an offside position may get involved without committing an offside offence. That moment in time is the instant a team mate touches the ball. The instant B touched the ball no player in an offside position can get involved until one of three things happens:

The ball is again touched by a member of the attacking team and, by then, the offside player has attained a position on the field that's no longer offside.

The defence establishes control of the ball.

The ball is no longer in play.

None of those three things happened so when A got involved he committed an offside offence. It is really simple, in fact it is a black and white issue. Offside position or not. Activity or not. Simple. Your friends need to read the offside paper we wrote, find it on the right side of the main page.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Steve, my opinion you needlessly doubted yourself .. Give yourself greater credit my friend you were spot on!
You never stuck an *s *on the end of offside either !
Dflection of the ball off an opponent, post, crossbar, corner flag, or referee what was in effect remains in effect!
If the shot occurs and the team- mate was offside position at the time of the shot he cannot play the resulting deflection! Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Ben Mueller

You were correct if the defender that the ball bounced off of never established control. 3 things can reset offside position - 1. New teammate touches ball, 2. Opponent controls ball, or 3. Ball goes out of play.