Question Number: 17144

Law 11 - Offside 10/6/2007

RE: Rec Under 10

Mary of Baltimore, MD USA asks...

A question came up today in a tournament, and even the ref changed his mind twice about the call. Player A on the attacking team kicked toward the goal. The ball deflected off the goalie. Player B on the attacking team who was in front of the goal, behind the "last defender" kicked the ball in the goal. There was a big debate as to whether this was a goal or whether Player B was offsides. What's the answer?

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

All that is good information but in order to sort this one out we need to know where B was when the ball was last touched by A. That makes all the difference in the world and the question is unanswerable without that information.

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi Mary,
the deflection of the ball off the opponent changes nothing.
What was in effect remains as it was for the attacking team.

As my colleague Ref Fleischer states we require to know the location of player B at the time of Player A's shot? What decision did the referee award to finally restart play? In the end it is his opinion as to what he saw that must determine the correct call

If player B was offside positioned WHEN the shot (last touch of the ball by the team mate A occurs player B is restricted from active involvement. The deflection of the ball will NOT change that restriction! He would be guilty of gaining an advantage and indfk out.

If player B was ON side positioned WHEN the shot (last touch of the ball by the team mate A occurs player B is can be participate and be involved. The deflection of the ball will NOT change that fact of participation!

When a ball is kicked or played it moves . As it moves so do players from both teams. The movement will likely place a different look than when the position is FIRST evaluated. So a player who looks in an offside position is in fact fine to play the ball and a player who looks to be onside is Still held guilty of an offside infringement.

Several key points to grasp here!
It is not an offence to be offside positioned!
A deflection of the ball is an uncontrolled touch/play which sets up offside criteria for that team that actually touches the ball HOWEVER, it does not alter the last positional offside evaluation of the opposition. To be candid both teams could in theory have restricted players within the same time frame after a deflection of the ball from a player
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

This TOTALLY depends on where player B was when the ball was kicked by his teammate and has NOTHING to do with where he was when he kicked the ball. If he was in offside position at the moment the ball was played by his teammate then he may not participate in play if the keeper deflected the ball to him. He would be gaining an advantage by being in an offside position when the ball was played by a teammate. Offside does not reset with a mere touch by the oppoenents. The opponents have to exhibit control of the ball or offside does not reset.