Football, like all sports, is governed by a set of rules. These rules are, in general, not as rigid as some other sports. They do, however, have certain restrictions that can be unclear to someone who is not fully versed in their complexities. The foremost example of this is the offside rule. The majority of casual football fans don’t tend to understand it. Therefore, in the following article, we will go some way to discuss the rule.
As a generalisation, it is correct to say that the offside rule serves as a corrective function against overzealous counterattacks. Now, what exactly does that mouthful of a sentence mean? When a team gets the ball unexpectedly, they will often charge down the field with the intention of scoring an easy goal. However, the offside rule says that, when an attacking player passes the ball to another attacking player, if that second player (the receiver of the ball) is between the last defender and the defending goalkeeper, that player is considered to be offside.
To illustrate the rule, let’s call the two attacking players numbers 9 and 10 and the defensive player number 4. If number 10 has the ball, and number 9 steps behind player number 4 (closer to the goal that he is attacking), before or whilst number 10 passes the ball to number 9, then number 9 is considered offside.
If you’ve seen a football game, then you may have noticed that there are two extra referees with flags on the sides of the field. They are known as linesmen or assistant referees. One of their jobs is to keep track of whether players are offside. That’s also why they carry flags: to signal infringements to the referee.
Although you can certainly enjoy football without fully understanding the offside rule, to comprehend the ins and outs of defensive tactics and the offside trap, it is worth getting your head around it.