(Originally published on 7/5/17, “Operation Restore”)
Alan, an adult amateur referee, asks:
With the LOTG 2016-2017 changes, can a person who receives the ball directly from a dropped ball be considered in an offside position?
Answer
Nope, but the question you are asking has nothing to do with any of the Law changes that occurred in 2016-2017 (or, as a matter of fact, in 2017-2018 either). The possibility of being in an offside position was decided decades ago when the offside position was defined as requiring four things. the player in focus must (1) at the moment the ball is touched/played by a teammate, (2) be ahead of the ball, (3) ahead of the second-to-last defender, and (4) ahead of the midfield line. The simple truth is that the dropped ball lacks (and will always lack) requirement (1). Because the ball is put into play by the Referee, whichever player makes initial contact with the ball once it is in play will not have been preceded by a touch/play of the ball by a teammate. Ergo, no offside position — ever.
Now, once that player makes contact with the ball (assuming the ball made contact with the ground first), any teammate of that player is subject to being in an offside position based on requirements (2) – (4).
Perhaps what you were thinking of when you posted your question was the issue of whether a goal could legally be scored “directly” by the player who first makes legal contact with the ball at a dropped ball restart. Unfortunately, that is a different question and, if that is what interests you, please submit it for consideration (the answer, by the way, is no).
