Soccer Rules – Offside

The purpose of the offside rule

The purpose of the Offside Rule is the same in football as it is in hockey: to prevent a player camping in front of the other team’s goal from “picking” him. Without the offside rule, soccer would be a great game of ping pong, filled with long kicks and crazy scramble from one end of the field to the other. By preventing any “offside” player from participating in the game, the rule prioritizes dribbling and passing, rather than long kicks. This promotes teamwork, which, in turn, encourages rapid switching from one side of the field to the other and compresses the action into a smaller area of ​​the field, usually around 30 to 40 meters long. The end result is that all players stay closer to the action and everyone has a better chance of participating in the game.

The offside rule:

“Offside position”

A player in an offside position is only penalized if, at the time the ball touches or is played by one of his team, in the opinion of the referee, he is engaged in active play interfering with play or interfering with an opponent . , or gain an advantage by being in that position.

Law 11 states that a player is in an “offside position” as long as he “is closer to his opponent’s goal than the ball and the second-to-last opponent”, unless “he is in his own half of the court. play”. Put more simply:

– No one is “offside” in their own half of the field.

– No one is “offside” even with or behind the ball.

– No one is “offside” even with or behind two or more opponents.

Additionally, there are three important exceptions to the offside rule. Anyone who receives a ball directly from a throw-in, a corner kick or a goal kick cannot be “offside”. So if Sally receives the ball directly from her teammate’s throw-in, it doesn’t matter if she’s in an offside position. The fact that it was a throw-in means that the play was not offside. However, if he throws the ball towards Jane, who is even further down the field than Sally, Jane may be offside, as she received the ball from Sally, rather than a throw-in. The same goes for corner kicks and goal kicks. If the ball comes directly from the restart, the play cannot be offside; but once the first player receives the ball, the “offside” rule comes back into play.

“Involved in active play”

Contrary to some popular misconceptions, it does not violate the rules simply for a player to be in an offside position. The offense occurs only when an “offside” player engages in the play. Therefore, the referee, or assistant referee on the touch line, who allows play to continue even if everyone can see a player well beyond the offside line, is probably not missing anything. Rather, they are applying the rule correctly, letting play continue until the player in the “offside position” becomes “offside” by engaging in play.

There are three – and only three – situations in which someone in an offside position is penalized for being “offside.” All of these, however, require participating in the game from an offside position or, in the wording of the rule, “engaging in active play” in one of three ways:

– Interfere with the game

– Interfere with an opponent, or

– Gain an advantage by being in an offside position.

The simplest example of “offside” occurs when an offside player receives a pass from a teammate. In this case, he is “directly interfering with play” because he received the ball. Other examples of the same principle apply this same logic, but seek to save a few steps for players, or coaches and fans some heart attacks. So if one or more attackers get caught offside and are running to play the ball, the play will be “offside”. On the other hand, if an offside player withdraws from the play (by pulling up, for example, to allow a teammate to pick up the ball), an alert referee will allow play to continue. And if the ball goes directly to the goalkeeper, the referees often let the players keep playing.

While it is not an offense to be in an offside position, a player who never touches the ball can affect play in such a way as to be penalized for being offside. The offside player who runs between an opponent and the ball, for example, or one who blocks the goalkeeper from a shot, or interferes with the goalkeeper’s ability to jump or pick up the ball, violates the offside rule by participating on the play. But this type of participation does not come from touching the ball. Rather, it comes from interfering with an opponent’s opportunity to play the ball. In this case, once the assistant referee sees the entry, the appropriate response is to raise the flag. But, if the offside player stops, steps aside, or clearly indicates that he is retiring from the currently active game, the alert referee will simply allow play to continue.

Among the most difficult things to detect, either as a spectator or as a referee, is the player who takes advantage of an offside position to gain an unfair advantage. However, this does not mean that the player is “getting an advantage” by avoiding running a little more on a hot day. Instead, it means that the player is taking advantage of his position to exploit a lucky detour or defensive error. Therefore, if an offside player is standing next to the goal when his teammate takes a shot, but does not interfere with play or inhibit the goalkeeper’s chance to save, then he is not offside. … and the referees will. counts the goal. But if the ball bounces, either off the goalkeeper or the goalpost, and the offside player hits the rebound, the play is offside and the goal will not count, because the player is now gaining an advantage from position. offside.

“The moment the ball taps, or is played, by a teammate …”

The offside rule is the source of more controversy than any other rule in soccer. In part, this is because there are at least two critical moments of judgment on every offside or no-call call. The second of these, the timing of participation, is often easy to see: that’s where the ball usually lands and the players are playing, and that’s where everyone is looking. But the first “moment of truth” is usually out of everyone’s attention, because what determines the “offside position” is the relative position of each player at the moment the ball is hit.

Players touch the ball a lot during a soccer game, often in quick succession. And since soccer is a fluid game, in a good team each player is in constant motion. This means that the first moment of judgment, determining whether any player is in an offside position, is constantly changing, and the relative position of the players will often be very different from moment to moment. However, the referees must keep everything in order and have a heartbeat or less to take a mental snapshot of the position of the players at a frozen moment in time, the moment when a member of a team plays the ball, to be able to judge. if an offside member of that team subsequently moves to play the ball, interferes with an opponent or gains an offside advantage. From the referee’s perspective, the game is an endless series of these snapshots, because each new touch of the ball re-determines the offside line … and the referee often has less than a heartbeat to make the decision.

The important thing to remember is that the time to judge the “offside position” is different from the time to judge participation. And this is true in whatever direction the players move. An offside player who is back onside to receive the ball is still out of play; To avoid the call, he cannot participate until another teammate touches the ball or his opponents manage to pick it up. On the other hand, a player who is onside will stay onside, no matter how far he runs to get it back, and no matter where the other team’s players move in the meantime. So if Steve is onside when Tom kicks the ball forward, it doesn’t matter if he’s twenty yards behind the defense when he picks up the ball. The play will be onside … because he was onside when his partner passed the ball to him. And if Steve is in play … but Frank is out of play … then an alert official will wait to see which one of them moves behind the ball, because if Frank pulls out of the play and lets Steve pick it up, then play. may continue because there is no offside offense.

Soccer officials and offside

The offside rule has been a part of soccer for a long time, sparking discussion and controversy since its inception. But its purpose is simple: avoid “pecking”. Since it is an important part of the game, the referees will enforce the rule to the best of their ability. But when they rule out an offside, or let the game continue, because they didn’t see any offense, they are not doing it out of spite or to hurt one team or another. Rather, they do it regardless of which team it hurts or benefits, simply because the rules require it.