Question Number: 17693

Law 11 - Offside 11/5/2007

RE: 8 Under 17

Timo of Chula Vista, CA USA asks...

I saw a scenario yesterday on which player A of the attacking team passed an air ball to teammate B which was on offside position inside the penalty box (and flagged by the linesman). Player C from the defensive team which was next to player B, intercepted the ball with a kick, but the ball went directly into his own goal. Is the goal valid? or is this a restart by Indirect Free kick since player B was offside. The goal was not valid during the actual game and the coach and players argued that player B did not touched the ball, but he was clearly on offside position and the ball was going towards player B. Please advise.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

The question is whether or not B became involved in play, having been in an offside position at the time A last touched the ball.

The AR seemed to think so, as he raised the flag. Although as you said linesman, I do not know whether you meant this was a neutral assistant referee, assigned to do the game. Or if he was what is called a "club line", someone associated with the team who fills in when an AR is not assigned or does not show up. Club lines in the US are only to call the ball in and out of play, not fouls or offside.

The referee evidently felt that B became involved in play, as he acted on the advice of the AR and disallowed the goal.

The fact that B did not actually touch the ball is not enough evidence to dismiss offside. There are 3 ways of becoming involved in play. The second is interfering with an opponent. Perhaps the referees felt that B's closeness to C prevented C from making a better play on the ball in which the ball would not go in the net. If that is the case, offside is the correct call.

All of this should have been covered in your referee certification class. Please go review the material presented in class, and also Advice to Referees which is available on the USSF website. You might also wish to read the excellent article on offside penned by Ref Fleischer, which can be found on the main page of this site.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

2 things. First, did the referee acknowledge the AR's call, blow the whistle and stop play for offside? If he did then we go to the second thing. Which came first, the offside infraction or the errant kick by the defender? Since offside occurs at the moment the ball is played or touched by a teammate, the offside had to occur first. Play was basically stopped at that point so the goal would be disallowed and restart with an indirect free kick at the spot where the offside player was when the ball was played by his teammate. I'm a little troubled by your statement that the player was in offside position and the ball was played. So what? It's not an offence to be in offside position and unless the player became actively involved in play as described by Ref Voshall, the flag should stay down.