Offside Clarification 2

[MC2]

If a defensive player tries to head the ball forward but the ball hits the back of her head and an attacker who is in an offside position runs and gains possession of the ball, is she offside?  The AR raised his flag while the Center said played on.  Who is correct?

[premier]

Did the defender have an appropriate time and chance to make a play on the ball without interference from the attacking player in an offside position?

If so, then the attacker is not offside. The AR is trained to look at the attacker and last defender and thus, may not have seen if the defender had enough time to make a play on the ball or if it was deflected off at all. That is the center's responsibility and call to make with the new interpretation of the rule.

[MC2]

So in theory, an attacker could stand in an offside position the whole game waiting for a defender to make an attempt on the ball, and if and when the defender misplays it, track it down and score. Is that a correct assumption?

[premier]

So long as the attacker does not interfere with the defender playing the ball and the defender has adequate time to make a play on the ball(ball doesn't just skid off the top of the head), theoretically yes

[MC2]

Let me paint this picture a little better now. The other team has the ball on their defensive half of the field. Player A tries to play an over the top to Player B who is in an offside position. Player C who is on the opposing team is on her defensive half of the field on approximately the 30 yd. line on a football field, jumps to clear the ball with her forehead but ball is to high and it hits her on the back of the head. She's not trying to pass to anyone, as the closest person on her team behind her is the GK, who happens to be 30 yards away. Player B possesses the ball, dribbles and scores. Onside or Offside?  Not trying to play gotcha or anything, I just want a better understanding of this rule.

[rlb2024]

My understanding of the rule in this case is that it is not offside. The defender (Player C) made an attempt to play the ball without interference from the player in the offside position (Player B) and made contact with the ball.

[premier]

Correct, she had ample time to get set up and make a play on the ball. This would be a situation if not offsides

[time2retire]

When judging this instance, I have to ask myself a few things:

Does the defender make a deliberate play on the ball?
Is contact made with the ball?
Does the defender have enough time and distance to make a deliberate play on the ball?
Does the attacker in the offside position interfere with the defender?

So the defender must have enough time and distance to make a deliberate play (not a deflection), and contact with the ball must be made, and the attacker in the offside position must not interfere with the defender, to negate the offside.

[CoachO]

I am looking at an older NFHS rule book (2014-2015), but in Rule 11 Section 1 Article 3 part b, it reads the player is offside if they are "gaining an advantage by being in that position"

Can you please interpret that clause?

One might argue that being closer to the goal (than the defender making a play on the ball) is advantageous when the ball is played by a teammate.

[time2retire]

When talking about gaining an advantage, we are specifically talking about a shot on goal which deflects from the goalkeeper, defender, or post to a player in the offside position.

[CoachO]

I had a moment in our last game where I nearly lost it over an no offside call. The defense pushes up leaving 3 attackers offside. The ball is played to the middle attacker. AR raises his flag. The player trots towards the ball, but the defenders knew she was offside so they did not move toward it. The referee allowed play to continue about 10 seconds since they offside player did not touch the ball, but rather hovered about 3 yards away waiting for a defender to come and get it.

[time2retire]

Feb 5, 2017 18:01:49 GMT -6 CoachO said:

I had a moment in our last game where I nearly lost it over an no offside call. The defense pushes up leaving 3 attackers offside. The ball is played to the middle attacker. AR raises his flag. The player trots towards the ball, but the defenders knew she was offside so they did not move toward it. The referee allowed play to continue about 10 seconds since they offside player did not touch the ball, but rather hovered about 3 yards away waiting for a defender to come and get it.

Playoff? Coaches choose their referees.

[premier]

Sounds like the center was waiting to see if another player, who was not in an offside position, would come to play the ball

[wildcatstriker]

Something similar happened in Walker vs Woodlawn last night.

Walker player was slow returning to play. Woodlawn won the ball and started to relieve pressure. Midfielder made an inaccurate the ball back to Centerback. Attacker did not interfere with play until ball got to him, turned and scored.

AR raised flag. Center overruled him and allowed goal.

[time2retire]

Dec 11, 2018 15:11:43 GMT -6 wildcatstriker said:

Something similar happened in Walker vs Woodlawn last night.

Walker player was slow returning to play. Woodlawn won the ball and started to relieve pressure. Midfielder made an inaccurate the ball back to Centerback. Attacker did not interfere with play until ball got to him, turned and scored.

AR raised flag. Center overruled him and allowed goal.

AR gave advice, referee made the decision.

[wildcatstriker]

Dec 11, 2018 15:49:49 GMT -6 time2retire said:

Dec 11, 2018 15:11:43 GMT -6 wildcatstriker said:

Something similar happened in Walker vs Woodlawn last night.

Walker player was slow returning to play. Woodlawn won the ball and started to relieve pressure. Midfielder made an inaccurate the ball back to Centerback. Attacker did not interfere with play until ball got to him, turned and scored.

AR raised flag. Center overruled him and allowed goal.

AR gave advice, referee made the decision.

To be clear. AR did right. Allowed play to continue. After the goal, he raised his flag. Center looked, then ruled. Well done and right call.

Was a very good crew.

[time2retire]

Dec 11, 2018 20:14:32 GMT -6 wildcatstriker said:

Dec 11, 2018 15:49:49 GMT -6 time2retire said:

AR gave advice, referee made the decision.

To be clear. AR did right. Allowed play to continue. After the goal, he raised his flag. Center looked, then ruled. Well done and right call.

Was a very good crew.

If the AR believed striker to be offside, flag should have been raised when the ball was touched by the attacker or when he interfered with the defender. Not after the goal. And if the referee saw the pass was made back from the midfielder, he would be waving the AR down. We do have standard signals and a guide to procedures. Sometime those get misused or misinterpreted when they aren't followed correctly. Sorry, pet peeve of mine, standardized signals and procedures make information flow smoothly and efficiently.

[cardsinhand]

See the video link below about a defender playing the ball to an offside attacker.

[cardsinhand]

Here are some more training videos from US Soccer.

[Waraz]

cardsinhand Thanks for the videos!