HEY REF!  THAT’S OFFSIDE!

Ever hear that?  Of course.  That’s because we go to soccer games.  You’ve probably been the author of those two statements yourself as a soccer parent.  OK, OK, don’t go running for the medication just because it looks like the ref is not calling offside.  Plenty has been said and written on the internet about offside, and much of it is technical and subtle, especially having to do with the highest levels of play.  I’ll try to simplify and explain offside in language you can understand, and not in the Queen’s English, but plain old US of A speak.

Ever watch other American Sports?  Of course.  I don’t mean baseball or golf (although I do like golf because it’s played on grass and while you’re watching, you can actually hear the grass grow).  I mean a sport that resembles soccer, like basketball or hockey or water polo that requires players to be in shape and requires strategy on attack and on defense. 

In basketball, you can ‘cherry pick’, which means you can watch your team on defense while you hang out by the opposing basket, then when the ball turns over, your teammate throws it to you and you slam dunk it, unopposed.  Lazy and uninteresting, right? 

In hockey, which comes closest to having offside, you have to be even or behind the forward blue line when you receive the puck, otherwise the play is offside.  You can’t ‘cherry pick’.  Water polo doesn’t have an offside, although it does have a two-meter rule, you can ‘cherry pick’, but you can’t advance into the 2 meter zone on the attack unless you either have the ball or you’re even with it.

So let’s imagine, for a minute, that water polo has an offside.  You can’t throw the ball to someone unless he’s on-side.  Same with hockey, you can’t pass the puck to someone unless he’s even with or behind you when you pass it.  In soccer, you can’t pass the ball to someone unless he or she is on-side.

So before we define what offside is, what is on-side?  Simply put, when the ball is played, you’re on-side if you’re even with the next-to-the-last-defender.  So count ‘em up.  Goalkeeper (1), one of his teammates as defender (2), so you’re on-side if you’re even with the keeper’s buddy.  Or, if the keeper has come out of the goal area or ahead of his buddy, you’re even with the keeper.  Simple, right?

Right.  So now, what’s all the barking about? 

Soccer was conceived as a ‘gentleman’s sport’.  The object is not to physically overwhelm your opponent, but to mount an attack on goal using ball skills and teamwork (offense), or thwart the attack using teamwork, positioning, and of course, ball skills (defense). 

If you were allowed to hang out by your opponent’s goal and wait for someone to kick the ball to you so you could challenge the keeper one-on-one, that would get boring pretty quickly.  So, to make it interesting and challenging, you have to begin your attack by being on-side.

Ok, let’s make it a little more complicated…

You are onside, by definition, if you receive the ball directly from a throw-in, goal kick, corner kick, or you are in your team’s half of the field.  Under those four circumstances, you cannot be offside, by definition.

So, now that we’ve established what you have to do to be onside, what do you have to do to be offside?  And, perhaps more importantly, how is the referee supposed to call it?

To define offside and how it’s called, you first have to understand there is a difference between being in offside position and offside.  You can be in offside position, but not be offside.  You cannot, however, be offside without being in offside position.  Confusing, isn’t it? 

It is until you realize that, just because you’re standing in offside position, as long as you’re picking your nose or looking up at the sky and not otherwise participating in the play, you’re not offside. 

However, if while standing in offside position you actually participate in the play, receive the ball, interfere with your opponent, block the goalkeeper’s view of a shot that goes into the goal, grab your opponent, or otherwise be actively involved with the play while also being in offside position, then, you’re offside.

And, most importantly, whether or not you’re offside is determined by where you are when the ball is played, NOT where you are when you receive the ball.

And of course, notice here that the ever present ‘if in the opinion of the referee’ holds as it always does.  If, in the opinion of the referee, you did it, then . . . you did it.

So remember that game, where you could clearly see that there was a player who looked offside?  And the ref didn’t call it?  That player was in offside position, but not participating, and therefore not offside.  But also, remember that game where the Assistant Referee raised his flag and you and 99% of the other people on the field couldn’t figure out what he was calling?  That player was in offside position, and did something to affect the play.  He or she gained an unfair advantage by being in offside position.  And also, that play where it was definitely offside . . . but the referee didn’t blow the whistle or instructed the Assistant Referee to lower his flag . . . because the keeper got the ball?  (Keepers hate it when you blow the whistle in those situations, they would rather punt the ball than kick it from the ground).  The referee didn’t stop the play, because he’s not supposed to blow the whistle if it isn’t necessary.

So here’s a couple of tips for next time you’re on the field, and you want to better understand Law 11 (offside) and how it’s applied:

• Even with the next-to-last defender, and that could be the goal keeper;
• Even with or behind the ball;
• What position is the player in when the ball is played;
• It’s not a goal kick, corner kick, throw in, or the player isn’t in his/her own half;
• Did the player participate by touching the ball.

So now, Law 11 experts, keep it simple, understand the game better, and trust your referee to get it right!

Next time: Hand Ball.  What is ‘Hand Ball?’  Isn’t that some sort of game played by two people trying to hit a small ball into a wall, like racquetball or squash?

Want to read more on Offside?  Read Keith Hackett Offside Law