A&H

Is this player in active play?

ulloi129

ulloi129

New Member
Hi, I've just registered, as I was looking for an answer to a refereeing question about an incident that generated lots of arguments. On Sunday Ferencvaros played MOL Fehervar, and in the 7th minute, conceded a goal from a header after a corner, where the player who was blocking the keeper at the corner was clearly offside in the moment of the header - the argument is about whether he was in active play. And in situations like this one, should be what happens before or after the header count in whether he is in active play, or just the moment of the header. I've read Law 11 multiple times, but it is not the clearest in this regard, I think. Cheers.

 
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OS cannot possibly occur before the header, as it is only an offense when the ball is played by a teammate (and the taking of a corner kick doesn't count). Before the header, the attacker moves so he isn't blocking the GK's vision when the header occurs. This is clearly not an OS offense. The only possible call for his actions before the header would be impeding the progress of an opponent--and I don't think there is enough there that would get called at a professional level.

(A player in offside position at the moment the ball is played/touched by a teammate can complete the offense by interfering with play or an opponent subsequently--but that isn't an issue on this play.)
 
Thanks for your quick answer. The argument was about whether the "active play decision" should be based on the moment the ball clears the attacking players' head, or the play afterwards. Let me put it this way, if the ball went towards the other side of the goal, would the blocking player be impeding, but as the ball goes towards the 'empty' side, he doesnt?

This is an other viewpoint, just for reference

https://imgur.com/sy4ESt1
 
There are two questions to ask:
a) was the player in OSP at the time the ball was played, and
b) after the ball was played, and before it was deliberately played by an opponent or touched by a teammate, did the player interfere with the goalkeeper by being in his line of sight

The answer to the first question is yes, the answer to the second is no. He was lucky, though, that the header did not go into the other corner.
 
Law 11 does have some clauses that can be a little confusing but IMHO it's perfectly clear on everything that relates to this incident.

The law states that a player in an offside position when the ball is played by a team mate "is only penalised on becoming involved in active play."

It then goes on to elucidate that the player's subsequent involvement in active play can be either by touching the ball or interfering with an opponent. This player definitely doesn't touch the ball, so that only leaves interfering with an opponent.

The law has four clauses listing the four ways an offside-positioned player can interfere with an opponent.

The player in question does not do any of the four things that constitute interfering with an opponent, so there is no offside offence.
 
I was coming to answer this question but @socal lurker and @Peter Grove already provided perfect answers for you so I'll just go ahead and agree with everything they said :D

I also think the offside law is pretty definitive on this play!

A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched by a team-mate is only penalized on becoming involved in active play by interfering with an opponent by:
  • preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision NO
  • challenging an opponent for the ball NO
  • clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent NO
  • making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball NO
 
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