Offside question

[lucy707]

Hi everyone, just one quick question about the offside rule. If an attacker is in an offsidepisition and their teammate attempts to pass the ball to them but it is intercepted by a defender, should the linesman raise their flag for offside?

 

[Sheffields Finest]

It's not an offence to be in an offside position Lucy, Its only an offence to join in active play (or words to that effect)...... Play on!!!!

 

[Nalbi]

What the old man said above

 

[Ciley Myrus]

Based on what you type, no, they should not, However if they did, and the referee is satisfied to allow play to go on, then so be it

 

[lucy707]

It's not an offence to be in an offside position Lucy, Its only an offence to join in active play (or words to that effect)...... Play on!!!!

Yeah but what if the attacker then goes to tackle the defender? Is it offside because he has an advantage due to him being in an offside position?

 

[Nalbi]

But in all seriousness, don’t be confused by the wording “interferes with play.” If an attacker is standing in an offside and the defender knows it, and still decides to play the ball, well that’s on them. As Finest pointed out it is not an offence to be in an offside position.

 

[Ciley Myrus]

Yeah but what if the attacker then goes to tackle the defender? Is it offside because he has an advantage due to him being in an offside position?

Now from what you are saying, more offside than onside, the striker challenging for the ball from an offside position would be deemed offside...

 

[Ciley Myrus]

The lotg cover in black and white the two questions raised so far!!

 

[Nalbi]

I’m with Ciley on this one, often the simplest answers are in the LOTG. That’s not us dismissing your questions, but the best advice any of us can give you is to always refer back to the laws of the game. More often than not you will find the answer there; unless you are unclear about sth regarding the law itself which makes it a different discussion all together.

 

[Sheffields Finest]

Yeah but what if the attacker then goes to tackle the defender? Is it offside because he has an advantage due to him being in an offside position?

Yes, then he's challenged for the ball and joined in active play.... In that scenario your Lino should put his/her flag up..... (Great question though)

 

[Ciley Myrus]

Totally agree, the Lotg cover both these situations, what a forum is good for is offering interpretations of situations, but yes without a hint of disrespect, the good book globally covers these senarios

 

[JamesL]

Hi Lucy, others have given you the answers you need. Now that you have those answers I reccomend that you have a read through law 11 to consolidate you knowledge of offside law. Its quite important that you, as the referee, understand it's intricacies as in your original scenario, there are still some dinosaurs out there who think that's offside. So, you need to be confident in not incorrectly penalising offside in that scenario.
In addition to reading the text in law 11 there are some great diagrams in the back of the book, in the practical guidelines section. You'll find these on page 203-209.

 

[Sheffields Finest]

As an aside, from 1866 - 1925 there had to be THREE players between the attacker and the goal. In 1925 it changed to TWO players between the attacker and the goal...The offside rule was then changed again in 1990. A player is considered ONSIDE if he is level with the second-to-last player of the opposing team (includes goalkeeper). (PP will be proud of that!)..... It's always been OK to be offside (apart from 1863-1866) when you are not active.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2010/apr/13/the-question-why-is-offside-law-genius

 

[santa sangria]

Yeah but what if the attacker then goes to tackle the defender? Is it offside because he has an advantage due to him being in an offside position?

Are you asking about the timing of the tackle?

That’s more difficult to interpret. We had a good classroom session on this but it’s still difficult. Especially because players do not know.

I think there are some Uefa videos somewhere...

If the challenge happens immediately as the defender plays/controls the ball, then it’s offside. But if the defender plays the ball and there is significant time before the challenge, then it’s play on.

But how to judge the grey area?

 

[lucy707]

Thanks everyone for their advice! Btw the way I stated my question it made me look like I didn't know what the offside rule was and I have been an attacker for the past 7 years so hopefully I knew the basics what I was trying to ask was the second question I asked when I replied to someone with it. Anyways thanks!