what's the offside rule?
613281
Basically, a player is offside if:\n\nHe is in the opponents half of the pitch\nHe is in front of the ball\nThe ball is last touched by another player on his team\nThere are less than two opposing players (can include the goalkeeper) who are level with him or in advance of him on the pitch, and\nHe receives a pass or interferes with play.\n\nThe rule is complicated, but essential for the game.  There have been different forms of the offside rule for the last two hundered years.  Without it, players used to split into two groups; attackers and defenders and hang around the goalmouths.  When a defender got the ball he kicked it upfield to the opposing goalmouth - play was merely a series of goalmouth scrambles at either end.\n\nNB  Officially, in the game, there is no such technical term as "onside"
834664
if one persons up the field to the goal if they're not a goalkeeper and there are no other teamates are around they're classed as offside, it's a really stupid rule
253700
Law 11- Offside\n\nOffside position\nIt is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position. \nA player is in an offside position if:\n\nhe 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\nhe is in his own half of the field of play \nor  \nhe is level with the second last opponent \nor \nhe is level with the last two opponents \n\nOffence \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\ninterfering with play \nor \ninterfering with an opponent \nor \ngaining an advantage by being in that position \n\nNo offence \nThere is no offside situation if a player receives the ball directly from: \n\na goal kick \nor \na throw-in\nor \na corner kick \n\nInfringements/sanctions \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\n\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nNew International FA Board Decision 1 \n\nIn the definition of offside position, "nearer to his opponents’ goal line" means that any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. The arms are not included in this definition. \n\nNew International FA Board Decision 2 \n\nThe definitions of elements of involvement in active play are as follows: \n\nInterfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team mate.\n  \nInterfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.\n  \nGaining an advantage by being in that position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position. \n \nClear?
1044772
it's for offside.\nno it is not a new rule.
1121856
Very simple explanation.\nThe Italian that received the ball was deemed offside before he took the ball raced towards goal, only to be upended.\n\nSo the offside happened BEFORE the next infringement, as such, the offside is taken as the first infringement of the rules. \n\nIf there was no offside, the Ghanaian player, would have an early shower.
1056908
OFFICIAL FIFA'S RULE:\n\nOffside Position:\nIt is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.\n\nA 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\n\nA player is not in an offside position if:\n• he is in his own half of the fi eld of play or\n• he is level with the second last opponent or\n• he is level with the last two opponents\n\nOffence\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\nNo Offence\nThere 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\n\nInfringements/Sanctions\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.
673313
It'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.
1014159
When an attacking player without the ball has less than two defenders (including the goalie) between him and the opposing goal and is closer to the goal than the ball and the ball is passed to him.\n\nSo if your team has the ball and you run ahead of the ball looking for a pass and you run past the last defenseman and only the goalie to beat, then you get the pass, you are offside.  You can only be offside when the ball is played. You can run after a ball in an offside position as long as you were onside when it was played.  It's a bit confusing.\n\nWikipedia has a good explaination too, with a diagram.\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offside_law_%28football%29
730591
well an offside position is a positon wen an attacker gets da ball wen all da opposin players r be4 him....|\n                                                               |\n                                                               |\n                                                               |  attacker recievin ball\n                                                               |\n               all defenders here                   |\n                                                               | \n                                                               |\nthis is offside
337688
10 yards (9.15 meter) to be from the ball for the opposing players with a free kick or a corner.\n\nWith a penalty kick, 10 yards from the ball (shown by penalty arc) and outside the penalty box.\n\nWith an indirect free-kick in the penalty area the opposing players are allowed to stand on the goal-line if that is closer than 10 yards.\n\nThe penalty spot is 12 yards from the goal-line (11 meter)
1043432
Application\nThe application of the offside law is best considered in three steps; Offside position, Offside offence and Offside sanction.\n\n[edit]\nOffside position\n \nThe red forward on the left of the diagram is in an offside position as he is both in front of the second last defender (marked by the stippled line) and the ball.A player is in an offside position if "he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second to last opponent", unless he is in his own half of the field of play. A player level with the second last opponent is considered to be in an onside position. Note that the last two opposing players can be either the goalkeeper and another outfield player, or two outfield players. Also note that offside position is determined when the ball is touched/played by a team-mate — a player's offside position status is not then altered by them or opposing players running forwards or backwards. It is important to note that being in an offside position is not an offence in itself. Another important point to note is that any player's offside position status is reset when an opponent touches the ball and is deemed by the referee to be in control of the ball.\n\n[edit]\nOffside offence\nA player in an offside position is only committing an offside offence if, "at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team", the player is in the referee's opinion involved in active play by: interfering with play; interfering with an opponent; or gaining an advantage by being in that position.\n\nDetermining whether a player is in "active play" can be complex. A player is not committing an offside offence if the player receives the ball directly from a throw-in, goal kick or corner kick.\n\nFIFA issued new guidelines for interpreting the offside law in 2003 and these were incorporated in law 11 in July 2005. The new wording seeks to more precisely define the three cases as follows:\n\nInterfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a teammate. \nInterfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent. \nGaining an advantage by being in an offside position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position. \nIn practice, a player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or touching the ball if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.\n\nThe referees' interpretation of these new definitions is still proving controversial until this day, largely over what movements a player in an offside position can make without being judged to be interfering with an opponent.\n\n[edit]\nOffside sanction\nThe sanction for an offside offence is an indirect free kick to the opposing team, at the spot where the offence occurred. Most referees use their discretion and let play go on if the "offended" team already has the advantage or ball, in order not to slow down play with redundant free kicks that achieve the same purpose of giving the advantage or ball back to the "offended" team.\n\n[edit]\nOfficiating\nIn enforcing this rule, the referee depends greatly on his assistant referee, who generally keeps in line with the second last defender in his relevant end (exact positioning techniques are more complex).\n\nThe assistant referees' task with regards to off-side can be difficult, as they need to keep up with attacks and counter attacks, consider which players are in an offside position when the ball is played (often from the other end of the field), and then determine whether the offside positioned players become invo
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
1068883
it's actually very simple. \n\nThe object of the game is to score the biggest number of goals in the opposing team's goalpost. \n\nThere are 11 players on each team, and a couple of referees. \n\nTake for example Team A and team B. \n\nWhen a player from team A has the ball and gets knocked down by a player from team B it's called a foul. When a foul occurs, the game is stopped and the ball is given to  team A (in this case). Depending on the part of the field in which the foul occured, team A gets to kick the ball. \n\nIf the foul occurs inside of the small rectangle near the goalpost, then it's called a penalty. And a player from team A gets to shoot at the goal with only team's B goal keeper to stop him. (by stopping him I mean, stopping the ball from going into the goal post)\n\nWhen for example a player from team A kicks the ball and it goes beyond the sidelines, then a player from team B gets possession of the ball. This player is allowed to grab the ball with his hands and throw it to a teammate.\n\nNote:\nplayers can only grab the ball with their hands when the ball goes beyond the sidelines. The goal keeper is allowed to use his hands at all times to catch the ball.\n\nThere are two halfs, each of 45 minutes. At the end of each half,  a few extra minutes of game play are given to make up for any previously lost time. Such as when an injured player has to be carried out of the field.\n\nThe referee has two cards: yellow and red. The yellow one is shown to the player who commits a very dirty foul, or to the player that argues with the referee. The red card is shown to the player who commits an extremely dirty foul, or to a player who has a yellow card and commits yet another foul.\n\nOffsides occur when a player from team A is on team B's side of the field and there's no one from team B standing between the goalkeeper and the player from team A.
522658
This rule eliminates the "cherry pickin" of the game.\nIf there wasnt offsides there would be a player of the opposit team standing next to your goalie waiting for a pass. \nIf the forward gets a pass from his teamate and he is passed the last defender when he recieves the pass it is offsides.\n\nI think i just confused you even more
1026502
FIFA World Cup issued new guidelines for interpreting the offside law in 2003 and these were incorporated in law 11 in July 2005. The new wording seeks to more precisely define the three cases as follows:\n\nInterfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a teammate. \nInterfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent. \nGaining an advantage by being in an offside position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position. \nIn practice, a player in an offside position may be penalised before playing or touching the ball if, in the opinion of the referee, no other team-mate in an onside position has the opportunity to play the ball.\n\nThe referees' interpretation of these new definitions is still proving controversial until this day, largely over what movements a player in an offside position can make without being judged to be interfering with an opponent.
4151
An offside usually occurs when an offensive player is closer to the goal than the last defensive player when the pass is initiated.\n\nIn simpler terms:\nWhen a pass is made, an attacking player is nearer to the goal than any defensive player except the goalie :)
438998
to make it more sensible as a whole.\nbefore the change, if the play was around the half way line and one of the attacking players was in the far corner asleep, the ref would HAVE to call offside. it was getting a bit silly. This is supposed to make the game fairer and faster