In a soccer game, what exactly does the term offside mean?
409380
Hire out Bend it like Beckham. It's explained using salt and pepper shakers in that film and might make more sense visually than written. Don't panic if it takes a while to get the hang of the rule, it took me ages.
995457
http://www.answers.com/topic/offside-law\n\nplz 10 pts
340790
no goal means that even though the ball is in the goal something happened before it crossed the line and therefore making it a void.\n\nOffside is simple, if a player from team (lets call it..) X is closer to the goal Y than a defense player from team Y and receives the ball from a fellow player, it is called offside. \nIt is ok to receive the ball next to the opponent and then run faster to the goal than the defense player though.\n\nI think the inventor of this rule had very slow runners in his team and had to give them a chance to keep up, :)\n\nHope it helped
566009
The rule was changed so that play would not be interrupted unnecessarily. Like you, I didn't quite get it. I looked up "new offside rule" on Google and came up with the link below. It seems to explain it quite well.
1018045
It's when the ball is being played. If it goes to another player on the same team and that player is past the opposition players then it's called an offside.\n\nOr say you have the ball and you pass it to your teammate but your team mate is ahead of all the players on the other team, thats when the assistant referee raises the offside flag.
1131266
Football is a continuous flowing game i.e. the ball is always being kicked and moved around. However, there are situations when the ball is stopped and one player has time to kick it by himself (usually when there is a foul, offside or the ball crosses the line). Example: Free-kick, Corner-kick, Goal-kick, Throw-in etc. are types of set-pieces.
615917
A simple version of the offside rule in soccer\nwould be: \n\n1. A player is in an offside position if:\n   -he is nearer to his opponent's goal line\n    than both the ball and the second last opponent.\n\nA player is not in an offside position if:\n\n   - he is in his own half of the field\n   - he is level with the second last opponent\n   - he is level with the last two opponents\n\nNow a player in an offside position is only\npenalized if, at the moment the ball touches \nor is played by one of his team, he is, in the\nopinion of the referee, involved in active play\nby:\n\n- interfering with play\n- interfering with an opponent\n- gaining an advantage by being in that \n  position.\n\nIf the ball is received directly from\n a goal kick, throw-in and corner kick,\n there is no offside offence.\n\nThis is probably the simplest way of \nexplaining the offside rule in soccer.
426634
The most confusing rule is OFFSIDE. This mainly means that an opposing player cannot be closer to the other team's goalie than that teams defensemen. He cannot take the pass from his teammate and go ahead if he is in an OFFSIDE position. This is the job of the linesmen (referees) to see and wave their flags. The linesmen also decide which team gets the THROW-IN, if there is a CORNER KICK or if the ball goes to the goalie for a KICK-IN. PENALTY SHOTS are awarded if a player is tackled unfairly in the goal area or if a defenseman touches the ball with his hand within the goal area. Yellow cards, warnings, are given by the referee for a lot of reasons, but mainly for dangerous play or for protesting or for delaying the game. Two warnings in the same match result in a RED card, meaning the player has to leave the field. There are more details but I think I covered the important points. Points are usually 3 for win, 1 for tie and 0 for loss.
1086323
Happy to explain!  And please, there are men out there that don't understand offside either, but are embarrased to admit it!\n\nAn offensive player is offside if no defenders (save the goalie) are between him and the opposing goal WHEN THE PASS IS MADE.\n\nThe offside is dependent upon the moment of the pass.  In fact, during a disputable offside call, as you watch the World Cup, you will see TV analysts look at that moment in slow motion.  "Was he behind the defender?" the analyst will ask.\n\nYou will see sharp offensive teams time the pass and the "break" perfectly, so that the receiver is well ahead of the defense when the ball arrives.\n\nThe offside rule was established to prevent cherry picking - in other words - to stop offensive players from waiting near the goal until an opportunity to score presents itself.\n\nThey are now required to wait, with at least one defender closer to the goal!
1074635
It is sometimes quite confusing!\nGenerally the offensive player cannot wait for the ball behind the last defender not counting the other team's goalie.  If that offensive player shows just a little part of his body or more behind the imaginary line where the last defender is before the ball is kicked and sent forward.\nThe confusing part is whether the offside player is actively or will actively play the ball or not determine whether it is an offside or not.  To me even though the offside player is not actively playing the offside ball, he can distract the defender enough to affect the play, it should be an offside.\nIf the ball is touched or deflected by the defender before the offside player receives the ball, it is still an offside.  But if the defender is trying to control the ball but the ball somehow gets through him or her, it is not an offside.  \nMay be better not to have an offside rule.  It should be the defenders' job not to leave a guy unmarked close to his goal.\nJust me!
747900
obstruction whether it is meant or not. player b awarded an indirect free kick. the time when this rule is most abused(ignored by refs)is when a player is "sheilding" a ball to run out of play.the defender hasn't touched it so its not in his control,and he blatently obstructs a forward from playing the ball with no intention of playing it himself.
998092
When an player passes the ball to another player of the same team, the receiving player is offside when at the moment the ball leaves the foot of the sending player who is trying to complete the pass, the receiver is BEHIND, i.e. closer to the opposite teams goal, than the last opposite team defending player.\nException to this is when the receiving player is in his own half of the field, or if he doesn't in any way affect the game, i.e. he is injured on the ground or returning to his team's goalposts using the sidelines.\n\nIt's easier to understand if you know why it's there, rather than what it is:\n\nImagine what would happen if a team was allowed to line up loads of its players right in front of the opposition goal mouth - it would be really easy for one of them to knock the ball into the net if it was passed to them.\n\nSo to prevent players from 'loitering' near the goalmouth like this there's a rule which says that a player from team A is offside if (and only if) he receives the ball while the only team B player standing between him and the goal is the goalkeeper himself.
1081700
If "offside" is called in your age bracket, you can teach this simple version: You are not offside if you are doing any of the following:\n\n   1. Are in your own half of the field (your half is the half your goalkeeper is on). Or,\n\n   2. Are even with or behind the ball. Or,\n\n   3. Don't go past the "Second Last Defender" (The goalkeeper is usually, but not always, the last defender; this might be the case if the goalkeeper is out of goal). Or,\n\n   4. Receive the ball direct from a goal kick, corner kick or throw-in. (But you can be offside if you receive it direct on a "free kick"). Or,\n\n   5. Are the ballhandler (the ballhandler can be closer to the goal than the ball if he has his back to the goal).\n\nWhen my forwards "push up" without the ball, I tell them to stay 2 steps behind the Last Defender (not counting the goalkeeper) so they are less likely to be caught offside or to be accidentally called offside.
31005
actually rules today is fine.. change nothin.. if offside rules were vanished,then lots of players will just stand in front of the goal post and just waitin 4 the ball to come.
961459
It goes back to the first days of the Premier League. Offside means just that. When a player is past the second last defender, he is Off his Side and therefore not supposed to play the ball.\nWhen I went through referee school, Law 11, which covers Offside, is not even one complete page. BUT.... it had 2 videos, about 100 slides, and took over an hour of class time. But it is one of the most simple laws of soccer/football.
1087243
I assume you mean soccer since you posted this in the World Cup forum.\n\nI'm impressed that you know it is "offside" not "offsides"\n\nThere are two parts to offside: offside position and offside offence.\n\nOFFSIDE POSITION:\nIt is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position. A player is in an offside position if:\n* he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.\nA player is not in an offside position if\n* he is in his own half of the field of play or\n* he is level with the second last opponent or\n* he is level with the last two opponents.\n\nOFFSIDE OFFENCE:\nA 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:\n* interfering with play or\n* interfering with an opponent or\n* gaining an advantage by being in that position.\n\nFor any offside offence, the referee awards an indirect free kick to the opposing team to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred.\n\nAlso, there is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from:\n* a goal kick or\n* a throw-in or\n* a corner kick
999220
lol wtf? that made no sense at all. offsides prevents an unfair advantage of keeper vs. striker. and "defence move forward unnesasaryly some time and the result is off side-that is unfair." thats called an offside trap, they do it to get an offsides call and regain possesion of the ball. If by "more exciting" you mean the score will be 35-28, then go watch hockey. and dont post on something that should be changed when you have no idea what it is for in the first place. . . For everyone who is posting that offsides traps should not be offsides, quiet yourselves please. Do you not like strategic soccer? why dont we just make the goals 50 feet wide and take away the keepers? and anyone who gets slide tackled and pretends to be more hurt than they are should get a red card? lol why dont we just kill soccer where it stands? because offsides makes it more interesting. so leave it. . . please