German legend Franz Beckenbauer is aiming to change the offside rule to make it simpler for referees to interpret. Yep, he got that right. Likely to be the most confusing and often most frustrating rule for coaches and players to understand. Countless hours trying to explain the rule to a child of 12+ and better still the soccer mom, frustrating.
Take yourself back almost 150 years and you would witness the birth of the offside ruling. Though seeing a number of changes over the formation of the rules of the game in the 19th Century it still leaves many soccer coaches, players and parents confused and bewildered many years later.
Offside Explained
“A player is in an offside position if three conditions are met: first, the player must be on the opposing team’s half of the field. Second, the player must be in front of the ball. And third, there must be fewer than two opposing players between him and the opposing goal line, with the goalkeeper counting as an opposing player for these purposes. It is not necessary that the goalkeeper be one of the last two opponents”.
Ah give me strength what does all that mean? Never mind, watch this short video to find out exactly what Offside is.
An excellent job, but still requires over 7 minutes of your life.
Let’s list it out
1. It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.
2. 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
Commiting 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
Give me more pictures please
If words arent your thing, and prefer pictures, check this animation that explains offside – it does a great job and you can forward the link to friends and players.
Here is Diego Milito showing us how to perfect an offside offense.
