Offside
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Dec 30 2008 at 12:23 PM
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I recently was refereeing a BU-14 game between a blue and a red team.  What transpired here took less than 15 seconds.  The blue team was attacking on goal and despite their efforts, still could not put the ball in the net.  One of their attackers slipped and fell right in front of the goal, near the goal line.  A red defender remained there with him.  The red goal keeper moved away from the goal line, past the player on the ground, and  tried to punch out the ball.  However, the blue team was able to gain possession again and made a feeble shot on goal that the blue player on the ground, stood up and knocked into the goal.  HOWEVER, at the moment the ball was played, he was still closer to the goal line than the ball AND ahead of the second to last defender.  That's what constitutes offside position (and the fact that he was in his opponent's half of the field). The blue coach even yelled, "But there was a defender beside him!"  True, but that defender was the LAST defender, putting the blue player in an offside position.  SO, when the ball was played to the blue player by a teammate, the offside infraction occurred.  It's an important thing to remember that, although the goal keeper is OFTEN the last defender, there are occasions when he's not.