New laws - law 11: offside

Let's discuss the updates to the offside law.

new LOTG said:

If an offside offence occurs, the referee awards an indirect free kick where the offence occurred, including if it is in the player’s own half of the field of play.

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I quite like this. Makes it easier to work out where the offence should be.

new LOTG said:

A defending player who leaves the field of play without the referee’s permission shall be considered to be on the goal line or touchline for the purposes of offside until the next stoppage in play or until the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area. If the player left the field of play deliberately, the player must be cautioned when the ball is next out of play.

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Is it me or is that a bit confusing?

So he has deliberately gone off, is he allowed back on without permission (would have thought not)? Deliberate is such a subjective word at times.

new LOTG said:

An attacking player may step or stay off the field of play not to be involved in active play. If the player re-enters from the goal line and becomes involved in play before the next stoppage in play, or the defending team has played the
ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area, the player shall be considered to be positioned on the goal line for the purposes of offside. A player who deliberately leaves the field of play and re-enters without the referee’s permission and is not penalised for offside and gains an advantage, must be cautioned.

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What is this about? So he can score a goal, but is also cautioned? Or is the game stopped to administer the caution, idfk?

If a player leaves the FOP to "put an opponent in offside position", he is considered to be on the goal line or touchline for the purposes of offside. [Same as the old Laws]

Deliberately is simply stepping off to put someone off (in their mind). Running off the FOP as part of a player move is still allowed, just like everywhere else.

That applies until the play is stopped or the ball is cleared from the defending third (well, PA). [New BIT! ]

That player is still not allowed to re-enter without the referee's permission. [Same as the old Laws]

When a player comes back onto the FOP without your permission, you stop the game when that player interferes. [Same as the old Laws]

If that player interferes by gaining an advantage on the offside stuff, that player cannot be offside as they were off the FOP (with or without permission, but DELIBERATELY). So you stop play for the caution for re-entering the FOP without your permission. [Same as old Laws, just worded FAR more clearly in the new Laws]

Once the ball is cleared from the defending third and it is obvious that the defender who is off the FOP is not re-joining (via injury for example) then re-align your self with the "new" second last defender. If said player re-enters, they do so without permission. Play can continue but they can then become the second last defender and momentarily player opponents offside. If they interfere with play then play would stop, they would be cautioned for re-entering the FOP without permission and re-start with an IDFK. However, I understand that if they infringe Law 12 when they interfere then we punish this as being the most serious offence.

SM,
You found some of the new text confusing? I was so spun out I now won't read the new offside law without wearing a G-suit.
For instance

new LOTG:
An attacking player may step or stay off the field of play not to be involved in active play. If the player re-enters from the goal line and becomes involved in play before the next stoppage in play, or the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area, the player shall be considered to be positioned on the goal line for the purposes of offside.

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This takes me back to the nightmare of English comprehension - which most of the time left the English teachers stumped
what I think this text is meant to cover is if a player "hides" off the pitch and only renters when he/she seeks to play the ball (or some other tactical advantage).
But what it seems to state literally is that: when he/she renters the pitch, and for a some time after re-entering, the player's position is considered to be on the goal line. This is bizarre. It would mean that if a player unintentionally, or as part of play, strayed off the pitch then re-entered, even if he/she then runs back to the penalty spot (or further !) he/she is still considered to be on the goal line.

This is my version "If the player re-enters from the goal line before the next stoppage in play, or before the defending team has played the ball towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area, and becomes immediately involved in play the player shall be considered to be positioned on the goal line for the purposes of offside"
...and I still don't like it - what is all this "towards the halfway line and it is outside their penalty area". This dish is over-seasoned.

It's a complete mess. An attacker used to step off the FoP to show he wasn't interfering, but the offside interpretation changes meant that if the referee was doing his job the attacker shouldn’t be penalised for offside anyway (if he didn’t interfere).

Some defenders thought by stepping off the FoP they couldn’t then be the “second last defender”. It was nothing to do with injured players. The old wording said that a defender doing that was judged to be part of the play and on the goalline (or touchline) until the next stoppage in play (plainly a nonsense for trying to remember that maybe for several minutes the second last defender was actually still deemed to be on the goalline, let alone where exactly on the touchline he was supposed to be). The new wording resets that calculation until a stoppage or until the ball is cleared, and that at least is helpful.

The new wording also applies to attackers. An attacker who has deliberately (see below) gone off the pitch (in order to show he’s not interfering, even if that’s unnecessary) can come back on at any time but cannot interfere – until one of the same criteria (stoppage or ball cleared) applies. If he does interfere before then, it’s an IDFK for offside but not a caution – unless (old wording) it was for “tactical reasons”. Because of the “However”, that cannot include just staying off the FoP so as not to be offside and coming back on but needs something more devious. The new wording seems to suggest that if the player comes back on (why only “from the goalline”?) and interferes he’s offside (IDFK) – but if he does something other than be offside, he should be cautioned. The only scenario I can think of is where he’s stepped off the pitch, the game has been reset under the new wording, and he then comes on and does something (perhaps plays a misplaced backpass from a defender) and “gains an advantage”.

Linguistically it’s a mess, and in terms of understanding it’s a bigger mess. “An attacking player may step or stay off the field of play not to be involved in active play” isn’t even English without a “so as”. It uses the word “deliberately” for one obscure situation but that first sentence obviously involves a deliberate act – it’s not an involuntary stepping off – he’s doing it so as not to be involved in active play -and you certainly can’t stay off the pitch accidentally.

That’s compounded by using the phrase “gains an advantage” in its common sense rather than the peculiar sense in which it’s now used in Law 11 for getting the ball after a rebound.

Even the 11.6 explanation, “It is unfair that an injured defending player off the field ‘plays everyone onside’ until play stops. The new wording defines the end of the phase of play when the defender is no longer considered to be on the field for the purposes of offside” begs the question “How fair is it that an injured defending player on the field ‘plays everyone onside’?”

0103455AP said:

Once the ball is cleared from the defending third and it is obvious that the defender who is off the FOP is not re-joining (via injury for example) then re-align your self with the "new" second last defender. If said player re-enters, they do so without permission. Play can continue but they can then become the second last defender and momentarily player opponents offside. If they interfere with play then play would stop, they would be cautioned for re-entering the FOP without permission and re-start with an IDFK. However, I understand that if they infringe Law 12 when they interfere then we punish this as being the most serious offence.

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I'm not sure why this needs a caution - if the ref/AR applies the law correctly, then while he's off the pitch, he's still playing opponents onside and is only penalising his own team, so the caution would be for nothing other than ignorance of the law.