To be offside or not, that is the question.

[drew]

There is was one incident where Murray was standing in an offside position when one of our defenders played the ball out of defence. Murray crossed back over the halfway line to recieve the ball, ie in his own half. but was given offside. I am assuming this was another balls up by the linesman but it is not clear from the rules of the game on the FA website. Anyone agree.

Thought Murray did exceptionally well against an international defence and from where I was sitting, the linesman in the second half made 3 bad offside calls.

 

[88brighton]

the rules state that if you are in a offside position when the ball is played then the ref will give offside which is rubbish i know.

 

[Walkers Cajun Squirrel]

You cannot be offside if you are in your own half when the ball is played.

When and where you receive the ball means f*** all in the offside rule.

 

[DTES]

Yes, that IS offside. Not a balls up by the linesman in this case...

 

[Skint Gull]

Doesn't matter if you come back into your own half after, if you're offside when its kicked the you're offside

 

[SI 4 BHA]

Not strictly correct - I think some of you need to revise your offside rule! Hope this helps. Maybe then we will get a few less ignorant comments at the match.

"It is not an offence in itself 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 of play
he is level with the second last opponent
he is level with the last two opponents

Committing an Offside Offence
A player in an offside position is only penalised 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
interfering with an opponent
gaining an advantage by being in that position

No Offence
There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from:

a goal kick
a throw-in
a corner kick

Infringements/Sanctions
For any offside offence, the referee awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred."

Although sometime the lino just gets a decision totally wrong, perhaps because he is just not level with play, the key to most offsides is whether or not a player in an offside position is active by interfering either with play or an opponent, or gaining and advantage and this is really a subjective decision for the officials and fans sometimes don't understand the reasoning behind certain decisions.

As an example an attacker could be offside on the right hand side of a pitch but the ball is played from the back to an attacker who is onside, but on the left hand side, this would not be diven offside. If play progressed into a second phase and the previously offside player had got back onside and scored, the officials would have to decide if he had gained an advantage or not from being offside earlier in the move before awarding the goal. In practice, unless an advantage gained is blatant, the goal will stand.

You can of course be initially offside but inactive and then become active in the next phase of the move, in which case the lino will flag and this often looks like a late flag, but actually the lino has just waited to see how play develops.

 

[Elder for England]

There is was one incident where Murray was standing in an offside position when one of our defenders played the ball out of defence. Murray crossed back over the halfway line to recieve the ball, ie in his own half. but was given offside. I am assuming this was another balls up by the linesman but it is not clear from the rules of the game on the FA website. Anyone agree.

Thought Murray did exceptionally well against an international defence and from where I was sitting, the linesman in the second half made 3 bad offside calls.

It wasn't just the second half, a couple in the first as well.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Although sometime the lino just gets a decision totally wrong, perhaps because he is just not level with play, the key to most offsides is whether or not a player in an offside position is active by interfering either with play or an opponent, or gaining and advantage and this is really a subjective decision for the officials and fans sometimes don't understand the reasoning behind certain decisions.

And to be fair to the ref's assistant, we are watching a game whereas he/she is specifically looking at the player positioning when the ball is played. I can't think of any offside decision yesterday evening when my attention was on both so I couldn't tell if the player was in an offside position or not.

 

[drew]

I have for the fun of it emailed the referees association. Once I have that I'll let you know.

 

[Walkers Cajun Squirrel]

SI 4 BHA WTF!!??

He was in active play because he touched the ball. Or is that not active any more??

 

[warsaw]

Murray does stray offside a little too much, but if you lack real pace, as he does, then surely you have to be right on the defenders shoulder?

 

[Everest]

Committing an Offside Offence
A player in an offside position is only penalised 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

As Murray played the ball, he was interfering with play. Which part of that don't you understand?

You weren't running the line at Watford at the weekend, were you?