Question Number: 23828

Law 11 - Offside 8/24/2010

RE: select High School

ted snyder of belleville, il usa asks...

player a has the ball and only the keeper is between him and the end line. he passes back to teammate b, behind him. b shoots and it deflects off keeper to a. is a offside because the moment he passed back he puts himself in an offside postion

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Ted
You are indeed correct plus the deflection/rebound off the goalkeeper does not reset offside. Player A can only be offside though if he 'interferes with play' ie touches the ball, 'interferes with an opponent' in this case say restricts the GKs view of the shot or 'gaining an advantage by being in an offside position' which means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position, which is what happened here.

Answer provided by Referee Gary Voshol

When B played the ball, A was in an offside position. (A's position prior to that is immaterial, because he had the ball himself.) A cannot participate in play until one of two things happen: either he is in an onside position when a teammate next plays the ball, or an opponent controls the play of the ball.

The deflection/rebound off the goalkeeper is not a controlled play. So A is called for offside for gaining an advantage. This is defined in the Laws as '"gaining an advantage by being in that position" means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a goalpost or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position'.

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Good job Ted. You are correct. In this instance when a touches the ball after the deflection off the keeper he will be guilty of an offside offense for gaining an advantage by being in an offside position.