Can you explain the offside rule?
I can give you the offside law. The offside law is if a player is nearer to his opponent's goal line than the ball. There is an offside position first before you talk about whether you decide he is offside. To be in an offside position, a player has to be nearer to the opponent's goal line than the ball unless there are two or more players level with him or between him and the goal line, or he is in his own half of his field of play. It is as simple as that. That is if a player is in an offside position. It only becomes an offense for a free kick to be awarded when the ball is played by a player of his own side, he is in that position and he actively interferes with the guy, he plays the ball, stops a defender perhaps coming across to get the ball or interferes with the goal keeper's judgement or vision. That is deemed by the referee to be actively interfering or having gained an advantage from being in an offside position at the time the ball was played: then it will be given offside. I am sorry to say it is complicated. At one stage, it used to be if in the opinion of the referee, a football player was seeking to gain an advantage, interfering with player opponents, then you could give him an offside. Now he has got to actively have interfered or gained an advantage.
