The Offside Rule and the Offside Trap in Football

A lesson for PLAYERS and SPECTATORS

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The offside POSITION

It is NOT an offence just to be in an offside position

A player is IN an offside POSITION if :

he is nearer to his opponents goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent

A player is NOT IN an offside POSITION if :

he is in his own half of the field

he is level with the second last opponent

The offside OFFENCE

A player only commits an offside OFFENCE if, at the moment that the ball touches or is played by any one of his own team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in ACTIVE PLAY

What is meant by “involved in ACTIVE PLAY”?

(this is where most misunderstandings of the offside rule occur)

A player, IN an offside POSITION, only commits the offside OFFENCE if :

he is interfering with play (touches the ball)

he is interfering with an opponent (prevents the opponent reaching the ball)

he is gaining an advantage by being in that position.

There CANNOT be an offside OFFENCE if a player receives the ball directly from :

a goal kick

a throw in

a corner kick

For any offside OFFENCE, the referee awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team to be taken from the place where the OFFENCE occurred.

Is this an offside OFFENCE ?

Red No.10 is in an offside POSITION because there is only 1 opponent (the goal keeper) between him and the goal line.

The offside OFFENCE occurs because he receives the ball whilst still in on offside POSITION

So, is this an offside OFFENCE ? YES

The Red No.10 has therefore lost possession for his team. He should have been more aware of his position and where the opposition was. He may have got into that position by running forwards without considering offside, or he may have been left in that position by a clever opposition defense who have stepped up leaving him exposed. That is called The Offside Trap.

Now consider :

Red No.10 is in an offside POSITION (we’ve agreed that) but tRed No.11 passes to Red No.8

Red No.10 is still in that offside POSITION but is he committing an offside OFFENCE ?

Has Red No.10 interferred with play - NO

Has Red No.10 interferred with an opposition player - NO

Has Red No.10 gained an unfair advantage - NO

So the answer is NO

Red No.10 has NOT committed an offside OFFENCE even though he is in an offside POSITION

And also consider this.

Would Red No.10 commit an offside OFFENCE if the ball was played towards him but was intercepted by Blue No.5 ?

The answer is NO

He has not interferred with play, or the opposition, or gained an advantage, therefore NO OFFENCE

And this.

As Red No.11 struck the ball towards Red No.10 that player was level with Blue No.5 but ran forward into an offside POSITION before receiving the ball.

Would he have committed an offside OFFENCE when he received the ball, after all he is now in an offside POSITION.

The answer is NO

He was NOT in an offside POSITION at the moment that the ball was struck by his team-mate.

And that’s where all the misunderstandings occur.

A player CAN be in an offside POSITION without committing an offside OFFENCE

ONLY WHEN THAT PLAYER BECOMES INVOLVED IN ACTIVE PLAY IS THE OFFENCE COMMITTED

SIMPLES !!

Now look at this

The Blue No.3 has failed to move upfield with the rest of his defence

Had he done so then Red No.9 would have been in an offside POSITION when the ball was struck and the referee should blow for an offside OFFENCE

But because Blue No.3 is playing Red No.9 ‘onside’ no OFFENCE is committed.

This is a classic example of the Offside Trap failing.

If Red No.9 goes on to score a goal Blue No.3 might feel hard done to if his team-mates blame him (he was nowhere near the play at the time – why is it his fault)

Well it is. ALL defenders must work together if the Offside Trap is to be successful. Just 1 slack defender can ruin the whole plan.

Always be aware of your position and the consequences of your position.

Confusing as it is, why does the offside rule exist. ?

The offside rule exists to stop ‘goal hanging’, where a player stands next to the opposition goal keeper, or close to the opposition goal, in the hope that someone from his team can get the ball to him (probably using a long ball) so he can get it past the goal keeper.

That would be a very boring game.

Here’s a puzzler……..

The opposition goalkeeper has run forwards.

(We don’t know why. Goal keepers are a funny breed. They think differently to outfield players - maybe it’s a failed interception - or maybe he was upfield for a corner before the Reds mounted a breakaway attack)

Anyway…..

The goal keeper is forwards.

Red No.9 is not beyond Blue No.4 so is it an offside OFFENCE if he receives the ball ?

The answer is YES

Red No.9 must be no nearer to his opponents goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. That would normally be 1 defender and the goalkeeper but in this instance the goal keeper is missing therefore there are not 2 opponents between Red No.9 and the goal line therefore this is an offside OFFENCE

Why are linesmen (assistant referees) always calling offside when it isn't?

Well believe it or not its not really their fault (unless the decision goes against you or your team), it's all to do with angles and line of sight.

In the picture the purple line represents the linesman's line of sight which as you can see is at a slight angle, this line should be parallel with the goal line. So even though the Red No. 10 is being played onside by the blue defender it will be called offside.

This is unfortunate but does happen from time to time.

It can go the other way too. He calls onside when it perhaps it was off.

And there’s timing. Can a referee or linesman see everything all at the same time or do they have to look from one part of the pitch to the other. In other words, see the ball being struck (by No.7) then look for position of other Red players. During that split second a player can move from onside to offside even though, at the moment the ball was struck, he was actually onside.

And just before you decide to mouth off at the match officials………….

……………..read on.

Some clever Doctor has concluded that the human race is incapable of spotting offside accurately.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 30, 2004) — The human eye is unable to detect an offside position during a football match, claims a doctor from Spain in this week's issue of the British Medical Journal.

This may explain why so many offside decisions are controversial.

The Human Eye Cannot Spot The Offside Rule

Dr Francisco Belda Maruenda analysed the physiology of the human eye to clarify if it is able to process all the visual information needed to apply the rule.

To apply the offside rule correctly, the referee must be able to keep at least five moving objects in his visual field at the same time (two players of the attacking team, the last two players of the defending team, and the ball).

This is beyond the capacity of the human eye, especially as these five objects can be anywhere within the defenders' half of the pitch, an area of at least 3200m², says the author. This may explain at least some of the instances when television replays of a game clearly show that the offside rule was not properly implemented.

The relative position of four players and the ball cannot be assessed simultaneously by a referee, and unavoidable errors will be made in the attempt. The use of modern technology during games, such as freeze frame television and frame by frame analysis is advisable to limit these errors, he concludes.

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Next time you are tempted to blast out “Hey Ref! You need glasses!”

Just think how others might see you

The common housefly is one of the few creatures on Earth with all round 360° vision