A&H

History of Offside

The Referee Store
An interesting listen and I would say mostly accurate however I think he gets one point quite badly wrong. He says that it wasn't until 1956 that it was decided that offside should be judged at the time a team mate plays the ball, not when the player receives it. The strange thing is, he actually alludes to the fact that this was already the case since a declaration in 1873 that offside should be judged at "the moment of kicking" (i.e. the moment the ball is played by a team mate).

The 1956 statement about this, contained in Law XI International Board Decision 1 is just a re-statement and clarification of the principle originally introduced in 1873, probably because some people (maybe even some referees) were getting this wrong.

It is clear, if you look at the full offside law as it existed between 1873 and 1956, that offside should be judged at the moment the ball was played by a team mate. For example in 1903 (when you could still be offside from a throw-in) the law read as follows:
When a player plays the ball, or throws it in from touch, any player of the same side who at such moment of playing or throwing-in is nearer to his opponents’ goal-line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever interfere with an opponent or with the play, until the ball has been again played, unless there are at such moment of playing or throwing-in at least three of his opponents nearer their own goal-line.
(Emphasis mine).
 
Without having watched the video yet, I'm immediately concerned that the video is titled the offside rule rather than the offside law!
 
Back
Top