Please can you tell me the off side rule?

Question

I have been told countless times but always forget. i know its something about defenders being somewhere! Plus do you get a corner if the other team kicks it off.
Thanks dumb brunette x

Answer 1

OK Dumb Brunette. My wife is blonde and she gets it now, thanks to this:

Imagine you're you're on a football pitch, but instead of playing with a ball, you're using your handbag, and you're trying to throw your handbag into the goal.

If there are defenders between you and the goal when you throw it, then you're NOT (that's NOT) offside.

If there are no defenders between you and the goal when you throw your handbag at the tall man in the funny jumper in front of the net then you ARE (that's ARE) offside.

Try and make sure that your handbag is closed if you ever want to try a practical demonstration, or there'll be crap flyin' around EVERYWHERE.

Answer 2

First of all, unfortunately unless he has read the Laws of Football his understanding of offside with be the same as many TV pundits i.e. Very Low. An offside player that is closer to the goal than the Second Last Defender (including the Goalkeeper) and is deemed in Active Play when the ball is played from his team mate (The important thing to remember that it is when the ball is kicked not when it arrives at the player it is being kicked too). For example if P Smith of Utd is heading towards goal and he only has M Jones in City Goal left between him and the goal and his team mate passes the ball to him he is offside. I would recommend looking at the Laws of Football then you can know more than your husband, it also gives diagrams to illustrate so you can understand it a little easier.

Answer 3

Offside is a Law in football (soccer) which effectively limits how far forward attacking players may be when involved in play. Simply put, a player cannot gain an advantage by waiting for the ball with only the goalkeeper or last defender between him and the goal

Offside position

The red forward on the left of the diagram is in an offside position as he is both in front of the second last defender (marked by the stippled line) and the ball. Note that this does not necessarily mean he is committing an offside offence.A player is in an offside position if "he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second to last opponent," unless he is in his own half of the field of play. A player level with the second last opponent is considered to be in an onside position. Note that the last two opposing players can be either the goalkeeper and an outfield player, or two outfield players.

It is important to note that being in an offside position is not an offence in itself.

Offside offence
A player in an offside position is only committing an offside offence if, "at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team", the player is in an offside position and in the referee's opinion is involved in active play. A player is not committing an offside offence if the player receives the ball directly from a throw-in, goal kick or corner kick.

In order for an offside offence to occur the player must be in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a team-mate; a player who runs from an onside position into an offside position after the ball was touched or played by a team-mate is not penalised. Similarly, a player who is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a team-mate may potentially commit an offside offence even if they run back in to an on-side position before receiving the ball.

Determining whether a player is in "active play" can be complex. FIFA issued new guidelines for interpreting the offside law in 2003 and these were incorporated in law 11 in July 2005. The new wording seeks to more precisely define the three cases as follows:

Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a teammate.
Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.
Gaining an advantage by being in an offside position includes playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.
In practice, a player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or touching the ball if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.

The referees' interpretation of these new definitions is still proving controversial until this day, largely over what movements a player in an offside position can make without being judged to be interfering with an opponent.

Offside sanction
The sanction for an offside offence is an indirect free kick to the opposing team, at the spot where the offence occurred. Most referees use their discretion and let play go on if the "offended" team already has the advantage or ball, in order not to slow down play with redundant free kicks that achieve the same purpose of giving the advantage or ball back to the "offended" team.


Officiating
In enforcing this rule, the referee depends greatly on an assistant referee, who generally keeps in line with the second last defender in his relevant end (exact positioning techniques are more complex). An assistant referee signals that an offside offence has occurred by raising his flag in a manner that signifies the location of the offence:

Flag pointed downwards: offence has occurred in the third of the pitch nearest to the assistant referee.
Flag horizontal to the ground: offence has occurred in the middle third of the pitch.
Flag pointed upwards: offence has occurred in the third of the pitch furthest from the assistant referee.
The assistant referees' task with regards to offside can be difficult, as they need to keep up with attacks and counter attacks, consider which players are in an offside position when the ball is played, and then determine whether the offside positioned players become involved in active play. The risk of false judgement is further enhanced by the foreshortening effect, which occurs when the distance between attacking player and the assistant referee is significantly different from the distance to the defending player, and the assistant referee is not directly in line with the defender. The difficulty of offside officiating is often underestimated by spectators. Trying to judge if a player is level with an opponent at the moment the ball is kicked is not easy: if an attacker and a defender are running in opposite directions, they can be two metres apart in a tenth of a second

Answer 4

It's necessary to understand what it's for. The rule was created to stop strikers loitering around the opposition's goal, waiting for the ball to fall at their feet and whack it in the back of the net.

The essence of it is that if an attacking player passes the ball to a teammate who is closer to the opposition's goal, there must be a defender of the opposing team who is closer to the goal than the teammate when the ball is passed.

Answer 5

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

OK Grimread has explained off-side but that Dolce chick trying to explain corners being when you kick off a circle! Do you think footie pitches are round?

You get a corner when a player from the opposition kicks the ball over the line behind THEIR goal. If they kick it over the line behind YOUR goal it's a goal kick.

Answer 6

The best thing to do is watch "The Full Monty" because a part of their dance shows the offside rule.
"Back, Back, Forward, Forward, Ref!" :-)

Answer 7

excellent explanation given by Grimread.

Re corner, i think you only get a corner if ball is kicked off near the circle by the opposition.

Answer 8

Ive started researching this a year ago and wrote to ten referees and assistant referees asking their interpretation of this rule. i never received any replies and have just realised i never sent the glasses in the envelopes. sorry i cant help

Answer 9

off side rule is that in soccer is a player goes in front of the defensive players when the ball is played with him!! just so u no!

Answer 10

It's so easy once you get it properly explained to you... I just learnt by watching the matches.