Question Number: 17314

Law 11 - Offside 10/14/2007

RE: select Under 12

Tommy Simmons of Coventry, c north america asks...

I had a game today and the ref told me that if all my defenders are up at half field and on our side. One of the players from the other teams is behind my defenders in a offside position. My defender turns with the ball and kicks it to the player in the offsides position. The ref said it was okay to be offside if you get the ball from the other team mate kicked to them?

Answer provided by Referee Steve Montanino

Yes, the referee is correct. If the ball is kicked directly to the attacker from a defender then there can be no offside offense.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

What the referee said was 100% correct!
If the attacker was polite he would say thanks for the gift!
This assumes a deliberately controled ball in your teams possession was gifted back as a mistake by their own design

If it was a DEFLECTION where the the ball was not played with control if that player was offside restricted then offside could apply!
cheers

Answer provided by Referee Michelle Maloney

I'm not sure the terms the referee used to explain were particularly helpful. A ball last controlled and played by the defense is not a factor in determining offside. Perhaps if you can think of it like this? An attacking player in the defensive half can be in an offside position if he is closer to the goal line than the ball and the second to last defender. He can only be called for offside if he receives a ball last touched by a teammate and then gets involved in play by interfering with an opponent or play or gains an advantage from his position. None of these apply in the situtation you outlined above.

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

The moment in time to establish offside players may not get involved is when a team mate touches or plays the ball. You establish this has not happened when saying your defender kicked the ball to an opponent.

The first line in Law 11 is "It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position." Then it goes on to establish offside position and what players in those positions may not do. In the case you open everything after this, from the paragraph entitled "Offense" in Law 11: "A player in an offside positioned is only penalized if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his own team," You state that moment has not yet come..

Regards,

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Don't understand the first part of your question but offside is ONLY judger at the moment the ball is played by a teammate