Law Discussion - offside at kick

It happens every week that players are offside at kicks, and still they look bemused. One of those offsides cost the team the match. We look at two sorts of offside at kicks – and how you come onside.

In each case a player is in front of a team-mate who kicked the ball.

Being in front of a team-mate who last played the ball means the player is offside – off his side – side singular, not offsides as some say. He is not penalised unless he infringes further.

There are two kinds of infringing further – one at a long kick and one at a short kick.

Let’s use two examples, one from Griquas vs Sharks and one from Golden Lions vs Western Province to illustrate.

1. The Sharks win the ball at a scrum about 35 metres from their line. Well behind his forwards as they break from the scrum, Ruan Pienaar kicks downfield. The ball comes down about a metre outside the Griqua 22, It had travelled 40 metres or more. It was a long kick.

Now all those Sharks forwards were offside when Pienaar kicked but they were not liable to penalty unless they infringed further.

How would they infringe further? By moving forward. That is an offence. If they moved forward they became offside-and-liable to penalty. Their status had changed.

That is why the referee three times told Keegan Daniels, the Sharks’ flank to hold, i.e. standstill.

Going forward was an offence. It was too late for him to be put onside when Odwa Ndungane ran past him. Daniel had already infringed. If he had stood still he would have stayed a player-in-an-offside-position and not liable to penalty. He could then have been put onside when Ndungane ran past him.

Daniël ignored the law and the law-enforcer, ran down the field and charged down Riaan Viljoen’s kick. The referee penalised Daniel who looked indignant.

One of the commentators said that Daniel was trying to explain that Ndungane had put him onside. The commentator agreed with Daniel.

The other commentator was wiser and said: “Only if he stood absolutely still.”

What the wiser commentator said was absolutely true.

When Daniel moved forward, as Ryan Kankowski did as well, he put himself into a position where he could not be put onside.

The lesson for the players is: if you are in front a team-mate when he kicks the ball, stand still.

Pienaar, by the way is not the only Shark ho could have put Daniel onside; any of the Sharks behind Pienaar could have put Daniel onside if he had stood still. That is why Ndungane was a candidate for making Daniel legal but Daniel had done himself in and cost his team three points when Viljoen goaled the penalty.

That’s the long kick.

2. This is the infringement which gave the Golden Lions the final lead at Coca Cola Park.

Western Province win a scrum near their own 10-metre line. They pass a long way back to Matt Toomua who is outside of his 22. He kicks high downfield. The ball drops about five metres over the Western Province 10-metre line.

The Western Province forwards breaking from the scrum do not move back. Some of them move forward till they are only two or three metres from where the ball comes down. One of the Western Province forwards has his hands in the air to protest his innocence. Frikkie Welsh who was behind Toomua when he kicked comes charging up past the forwards.

This one is different. This time it does not help to be standing still. The reason for that is that the Western Province forwards are within 10 metres of where the ball drops. Even if they stand still, Welsh does not put them onside. To be put onside they must retreat, i.e. go back towards their own line.

If they had been retreating and Welsh had passed them while they were retreating, they would have been put onside.

It should not be too hard to top players to work out.

If I am in front of a team-mate who kicks, I am in danger of being penalised.

If it’s a long kick, I must stand still.
If it’s a short kick, I must go back.

If I do either of those I can be be put onside.

The law in regard to these incidents:

1. Long kick and moving forward

Law 11.1 OFFSIDE IN GENERAL PLAY
(a) A player who is in an offside position is liable to penalty only if the player does one of three
things:
• Interferes with play or,
• Moves forward, towards the ball or
• Fails to comply with the 10-Metre Law (Law 11.4).
A player who is in an offside position is not automatically penalised.
A player who receives an unintentional throw forward is not offside.
A player can be offside in the in-goal.
(b) Offside and interfering with play. A player who is offside must not take part in the game.
This means the player must not play the ball or obstruct an opponent.
(c) Offside and moving forward. When a team-mate of an offside player has kicked ahead, the offside player must not move towards opponents who are waiting to play the ball, or move towards the place where the ball lands, until the player has been put onside.

Coming onside

Law 11.2 BEING PUT ONSIDE BY THE ACTION OF A TEAM-MATE
In general play, there are four ways by which an offside player can be put onside by actions of that player or of team mates;
(a) Action by the player. When the offside player runs behind the team-mate who last kicked, touched or carried the ball, the player is put onside.
(b) Action by the ball carrier. When a team-mate carrying the ball runs in front of the offside player, that player is put onside.
(c) Action by the kicker or other onside player. When the kicker, or team-mate who was level with or behind the kicker when (or after) the ball was kicked, runs in front of the offside player, the player is put onside.
(d) When running forward, the team-mate may be in touch or in touch-in-goal, but that teammate must return to the playing area to put the other player onside.

11.3 BEING PUT ONSIDE BY OPPONENTS
In general play, there are three ways by which an offside player can be put onside by an action of the opposing team. These three ways do not apply to a player who is offside under the 10-Metre law.
(a) Runs 5 metres with ball. When an opponent carrying the ball runs 5 metres, the offside player is put onside.
(b) Kicks or passes. When an opponent kicks or passes the ball, the offside player is put onside.
(c) Intentionally touches ball. When an opponent intentionally touches the ball but does not catch it, the offside player is put onside.

2. Offside within 10 metres

Law 11.4 OFFSIDE UNDER THE 10-METRE LAW
(a) When a team-mate of an offside player has kicked ahead, the offside player is considered to be taking part in the game if the player is in front of an imaginary line across the field which is 10 metres from the opponent waiting to play the ball, or from where the ball lands or may land. The offside player must immediately move behind the imaginary 10-metre line. While moving away, the player must not obstruct an opponent.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(b) While moving away, the offside player cannot be put onside by any action of the opposing team. However, before the player has moved the full 10 metres, the player can be put onside by any onside team-mate who runs in front of the player.
(c) When a player who is offside under the 10-Metre law charges an opponent waiting to catch the ball, the referee blows the whistle at once and the offside player is penalised. Delay may prove dangerous to the opponent.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(d) When a player who is offside under the 10-Metre law plays the ball which has been misfielded by an opponent, the offside player is penalised.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(e) The 10-Metre law is not altered by the fact that the ball has hit a goal post or a crossbar. What matters is where the ball lands. An offside player must not be in front of the imaginary 10-metre line across the field.
Penalty: Penalty Kick
(f) The 10-Metre law does not apply when a player kicks the ball, and an opponent charges down the kick, and a team-mate of the kicker who was in front of the imaginary 10-metre line across the field then plays the ball. The opponent was not ‘waiting to play the ball’ and the team-mate is onside.
Penalty: When a player is penalised for being offside in general play, the opposing team chooses either a penalty kick at the place of infringement or a scrum at the place where the offending team last played the ball. If it was last played in that team’s in-goal, the scrum is formed 5 metres from the goal line in line with where it was played.
(g) If more than one player is offside and moving forward after a team-mate has kicked ahead, the place of infringement is the position of the offside player closest to an opponent waiting for the ball, or closest to where the ball lands.

Law 11.5 BEING PUT ONSIDE UNDER THE 10-METRE LAW
(a) The offside player must retire behind the imaginary 10-metre line across the field, otherwise the player is liable to be penalised.
(b) While retiring, the player can be put onside before moving behind the imaginary 10-metre line by any of the three actions of the player’s team listed above in 11.2. However, the player cannot be put onside by any action of the opposing team.

 There are clips of both of these incidents on www.sareferees.co.za.