The opposition\u2019s goalkeeper counts as one of the players, but he doesn\u2019t have to be one of their players<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThat last point can be slightly confusing so we\u2019ll explain it further. To be onside there must be two players between the attacking player and the opposition\u2019s goal. Normally the opposition\u2019s goalkeeper is naturally one of those players as he is more likely than not the furthest player back during any phase of play. Sometimes, however, a goalkeeper may run up for his team\u2019s attacking corner, if they\u2019re chasing the game, for example, and when that happens an attacking player will still be onside as long as two players from the other team are between him and the goal.<\/p>\n
The most crucial moment for an offside decision is the moment that the ball is struck by the player passing the ball. The player he is attempting to pass to can be stood in offside decision up until the moment the pass is made, but when the ball leaves his foot or head the attacking player needs to be level with the penultimate player.<\/p>\n
Another thing to remember is that offsides aren\u2019t an offence in the same way as a foul or a handball, for example. A player can be offside as many times as he\u2019d like during a game and won\u2019t be booked or sent off for it. He might incur the wrath of the crowd, though, with supporters likely to become extremely agitated over repeated offside calls. Mario Ballotelli is a player who specialises in such things.<\/p>\n
Changes To The Offside Rule<\/h2>\n
There are often slight changes to the offside rule as the game\u2019s governing body attempts to keep up with the speed and advancement of the game. Recently an amendment was made to the rule that stated a player could be offside if he \u2018interfered with play\u2019, as an example. That is to say, a player might be stood in an offside position but not touch the ball and yet still be given offside because his positioning meant that he prevented a defensive player from being able to see the ball clearly.<\/p>\n
In recent times that has been taken even further, with a player adjudged to be onside if he\u2019s in an offside position but doesn\u2019t make any attempt to play the ball. The second a movement is made that indicates the player is trying to get a touch on the ball he becomes \u2018active\u2019 and can be judged to be offside.<\/p>\n
Whilst supporters may, understandably, become annoyed with officials who get offside calls wrong it is important to remember that they\u2019re only human. Something we wouldn\u2019t have been able to type had Howard Webb still been officiating. The reality is that players can move so quickly nowadays and so much can be going on at the same time – with officials having to look for the movement of the attacking player as well as the moment that the ball is touched – that it\u2019s actually quite remarkable that officials don\u2019t get more offside calls incorrect than is currently the case.<\/p>\n
Of course, if VAR is being used then a player might be flagged as offside if their little finger is in front of the defender – but that’s another article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1185,"template":"","acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.football-stadiums.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}