Video Instruction – Offside Decision
Offside decisions can lead to critical match incidents such as allowing or disallowing a goal. The officiating team must work together to get these decisions correct.
Instructions
We strongly suggest you have a copy of the
NISOA considerations available as you are reviewing this clip. The NISOA Official decision will reference the considerations and help you better understand the decision making process. When you select one of the decision choices below, you will unlock the "Get the NISOA decision" button.
While we generally welcome comments on our materials, please do not post your opinion/decision in the comments area. Commenting should be limited to the value of the clip or requests for clarification. Thank you for your cooperation.
NISOA Official Decision
The attacking player shall not be penalized for offside in this case.
This action is very similar to our last video analysis of offside.
This is a deliberate play by the defender. The ball comes from a relatively long distance. The defender has an unobstructed view of the ball and time to make a play on it. The defender makes a conscious decision to play the ball.
NCAA Soccer Rule 11.3.3 states that a player shall not be declared offside if the player receives the ball from a deliberate play from a defender. Rule 11.3.3.1 states that a "deliberate act is one in which a player chooses to act, regardless of the outcome of that action. This deliberate act is neither a reaction nor reflex. A deliberate action may result in the opponent benefiting from the action."
Note the reaction of the coach and how the referee and assistant referee handle the incident. The officials demonstrate excellent teamwork and communication while making sure the coach does not interfere with their conversation.
Decisions: 1345
You may want to select clips where the offside position is certain.
The time of kick and the positioning of potential offside player is not in the same screen shot. This is actually far closer to onside due to the lag effect created by camera view creating doubt and dynamic movement where it is recommended to keep flag down.
Thank you for your comment.
The teaching point of this clip is to show a deliberate play by the defender without regard to the position of the attacking player. The value of focusing on the position of an attacking player as the sole determination of penalizing for offside is better left for basic level instruction.
In my opinion, the position of the offensive player is irrelevant. Yes, she is in an offside position or at least it looks like it from the clip but the fact that the defensive player made an attempt to play the ball in relation to having the ball deflect off of her, nullifies an offside call that eventually leads to a good goal. Excellent decision by the officiating crew if indeed that was the decision they made. It is unclear if the AR raised the flag or not but the coaches reaction leads me to believe that his flag was not raised. Excellent decision!!