Offside, ref!

[JimF]

Hello - I have a question about offside. The attacking team play the ball forward. Player 1 is offside but ‘inactive’. Player 2 is onside and runs towards goal with the ball. Player 1, who was offside and inactive, follows him. Player 2 is now in front of the goalie. Player 2 passes to Player 1, who is behind the ball and now onside. Player 1 scores. Is this offside? I am not sure when Player 1 becomes active. Thanks for any help with this.

 

[JamesL]

So long as player 1 does not commit an offside offence in the first part then we judge his position at each time the ball is touched or played by a team mate.

As you describe no offside offence occurs and as such goal is the outcome.

(Also 2nd such similar question I have received/seen today... Has something happened?)

Diagram below:

 

[DavidObs]

Hello - I have a question about offside. The attacking team play the ball forward. Player 1 is offside but ‘inactive’. Player 2 is onside and runs towards goal with the ball. Player 1, who was offside and inactive, follows him. Player 2 is now in front of the goalie. Player 2 passes to Player 1, who is behind the ball and now onside. Player 1 scores. Is this offside? I am not sure when Player 1 becomes active. Thanks for any help with this.

Situation is as James describes, since at the time of the first phase of play, player 1 is inactive & therefore play continues & having absolutely no bearing on the next/completely different phase of play, whereby in any event, player 1 is in an onside position, so play again continues & goal awarded.

 

[JimF]

Thanks for your reply, James, much appreciated. I don’t think anything’s happened! It’s probably just us new refs trying to get our heads straight around the rules on active and inactive.

 

[JamesL]

Thanks for your reply, James, much appreciated. I don’t think anything’s happened! It’s probably just us new refs trying to get our heads straight around the rules on active and inactive.

Cool. Its spookily close to a query I received from a colleague today so got me thinking.

Key thing to always remember is: it is NOT an offence to be in an Offside position.

We must always be asking ourselves has the player committed an offside offence before stopping play, or raising our flag to alert the referee.

It is really important we understand how a player can commit an offside offence. This is explicit in law 11 and is not a simple case of taking the English language and applying it.

 

[JimF]

Yes, I think the reason I find this law confusing is that the player who is offside but inactive can then use his position on the pitch to his advantage. He can follow the onside player and then score. However, I am going to follow the rules and not overthink it! Thanks again.

 

[Gabriel]

We must always be asking ourselves has the player committed an offside offence before stopping play, or raising our flag to alert the referee

I’d advise counting to 2 or 3 in your head before putting the flag up or blowing the whistle for the new refs. First time I was on the line I rushed the first offside call I had to make which meant not only did I get it wrong, the whole thing looked messy when I had to put the flag down again and tell the ref to ignore it. Just take your time to decide and process what’s happened.

 

[JimF]

Thanks Gabriel, that’s helpful. I need to give myself time (within reason) to make the correct decision.

 

[JamesL]

Yes, I think the reason I find this law confusing is that the player who is offside but inactive can then use his position on the pitch to his advantage. He can follow the onside player and then score. However, I am going to follow the rules and not overthink it! Thanks again.

Exactly my point. There is an offside offence of gaining an advantage but is followed with a by and then sets some very specific situations that mean gaining an advantage for offside purposes..

This is why I said about not leaning on everyday understanding of English and knowing what the laws means when it uses certain phrases.

 

[The Gump]

I’d advise counting to 2 or 3 in your head before putting the flag up or blowing the whistle for the new refs. First time I was on the line I rushed the first offside call I had to make which meant not only did I get it wrong, the whole thing looked messy when I had to put the flag down again and tell the ref to ignore it. Just take your time to decide and process what’s happened.

The “delay” tip is valuable for so many scenarios.