Of all the calls in sports, one of
the most difficult to make—and
confusing to understand—is the
offside rule in soccer. According
to the laws of the game, a player
is offside when “any part of the
head, body, or feet is nearer to
the opponents’ goal line than
both the ball and the second-last
opponent.” In slightly plainer
English: There have to be two
defenders between a player and
the goal line when the ball is
passed to them, unless they are
behind the ball.
Since it’s often impossible to see
both the passing player and the
intended target, the linesmen who
enforce the offside rule watch the
attacking player while listening
for the sound of the ball being
kicked. Muddling matters more
are a few exceptions: A player
can’t be offside in their own half
of the field, for instance. It can be
confounding, so at the end of the
day, you can always just go by the
interpretation offered by Jason
Sudeikis, who plays Ted Lasso:
“When someone scores a goal too
easy, it was offside.”R
E
F
SB U R N I N G Q s
For the Last Time, HowDoes Offside Work?
HOW DO
YOU DEAL
WITH A BAD
CALL?
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We’ve all
made bad
calls. There have been times
when I put my arm in the air
[to call a penalty] and I’m like,
Oh, boy, I want to chew my
arm off now. After you make a
bad call, you can’t referee from
a place of guilt. You still have to
“I’m still
onside! Pass
it to me!”
“Uh...psych!”
“Kind of lonely
over here.”