Offside

[JH]

1. One attacker making a run in behind and a defender just the wrong side of him, attacker is offside when the ball is played over the top and the defender just about clears the ball - Not offside, right?

2. Same scenario, but the defender slices the clearance or glances it with his head and puts the attacker through - Offside? Head tells me no, but I know that put in that situation I'd hesitate for sure and probably raise the flag.

 

[Ref1981]

1. No offside, if the player in an offside position does not interfere with opponent (challenging the opponent for the ball, attempting to play the ball)

2. Same thing as above, no offside if the player in an offside position does not interfere with opponent

 

[cwyeary]

The question to answer is "Did the attacker interfere with the opponent?"

In particular, you need to judge if the attacker was close enough to the defender to have challenged him for the ball.

This page has pretty good information on the subject.

https://www.proassistantreferees.com/interferingwithanopponent

 

[Big Cat]

Keeping in mind that the descriptions of the scenarios aren't particularly clear, both scenarios are onside. From previous threads it all boils down to the definition of the defender making a 'play' for the ball. A deflection is not a 'play', which i understand being an act of a player in some control of the ball

 

[Peter Grove]

Same scenario, but the defender slices the clearance or glances it with his head and puts the attacker through - Offside?

It depends on whether you class the slice or glance as a deliberate play or a deflection. Lots of discussion on this on a recent thread with some varying opinions on the the criteria.