The offside rule of soccer is one of the game’s shortest rules and yet it is one that seems to be the most misunderstood by Americans trying to learn the sport. An understanding of the offside rule can start with its historical context. When the game was first played in the late 1800s by the “schoolboys” of England, there was no offside rule. It wasn’t necessary because “gentlemen” would not have considered it “sporting” to have the ball passed to them with no opponent given the opportunity to defend. Accordingly, if a gentleman found himself without an opponent between himself and the goal, he would not take advantage of the situation. When the masses began to play soccer, many of the previously unwritten gentlemanly understandings of the game had to be codified. The first offside law, instituted in the early 1900s, required three defenders between the potential recipient of the ball and the opponents’ goal-line. Subsequently, this was changed to two defenders between and then, in 1990, in an effort to try to increase scoring, to one defender between and one defender even with the potential recipient of the ball.
The impact of the rule is that it allows the next-to-last defender on a team, usually a “fullback,” to essentially determine the amount of space that will be available to the attacking team as it nears the goal. The defender does this by moving toward midfield as early and as often as play allows. The practical result of this movement is the beautiful, back-and-forth, alternating attack-and-defense, play for which the game is known worldwide. Without the rule, the game would likely degenerate into two knots of players grouped in front of each goal furiously trying either to score or to wildly kick the ball down to the other end of the field.
The offside rule, Law 11 of the Laws of the Game, states, in part:
“A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponent’s goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent…”* and,
“A player in an offside position is only penalized if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:
- Interfering with play or
- Interfering with an opponent or
- Gaining an advantage by being in that position”
Whereas there are many nuances and additional information and interpretations associated with the offside law, the vast majority of the time it is applied during a normal game is when a midfielder passes the ball forward to a leading striker. In these instances, the goalkeeper is in place in front of the goal and he represents the “last opponent.” The defender next-closest to the goal represents the “second-last” opponent. It is this next-closest defender who will determine whether or not the attacker is in an offside position. For an observer, it may help to conceptualize that this defender carries with him an “offside position line.” This is an imaginary line which, assuming the presence of the goalkeeper at the goal line, runs through the middle of the body of the last field defender playing closest to the goal, and is always parallel to the goal line. During the normal run of play, this imaginary line moves up and back on the field of play with the defender and switches defenders, as these players move ahead of or behind one another, so that it is always with the “second-last” defender.
The keys to first learning the application of the offside rule are, a.) the relative position of the attacker to the defenders, and b.) the actions of the attacker. Accordingly, for the normal run of play, a simplified way to determine if the offside law has been violated is by applying the “Two-Question Test.” The first question is:
1. At the instant the ball was passed by his teammate, was the potential receiving player in an offside position (i.e., beyond the imaginary offside position line)?
If the answer to the first question is “No,” then no violation can occur and you don’t go on to the second question. If the answer is “Yes,” then the second question is:
2. Did the player in the offside position gain an advantage or interfere?
If the answer to the second question is “No,” then no violation has occurred. If the answer is “Yes,” then the assistant referee should raise his flag and the referee should blow his whistle to stop play and penalize the infraction. In most of these instances the player will have gained an advantage by receiving the ball.
One reason that the interpretation of this rule is misunderstood by people first learning the game centers on the phrase “at the moment the ball… is played…” This does not say, “at the moment the ball is received.” At any point in time, spectators often concentrate only on the player with the ball, while it is the position of a teammate who does not have the ball who will determine the application of an offside ruling. In the second that it takes for the ball to travel after it has been passed, and for the assistant referee and the referee to make their decision, the relative position of the defenders will most likely have changed. As such, a player who was in an onside position could appear to be in an offside position when he receives the ball. The opposite is also true. While the ball is travelling, due to player movement a player who was in an offside position at the instant the ball was passed could appear to be in an onside position when the ball is received.
Similarly, spectators often confuse a player who is in an “offside position” with being guilty of being “offside.” It is not sufficient, in and of itself, to be in an offside position to have violated the rule. As indicated in the “Two-Question Test,” the player must have first been in an offside position at the moment the ball was passed, and then to have also gained an advantage or interfered.
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*In the opponents’ half of the field.
© Copyright 2011
John Harves
CoachingAmericanSoccer.com
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