Offside Rule Explained

I was talking with a friend today and the topic of the 2010 World Cup came up. Nothing unusual until we began discussing the Offside Rule. We both had to admit, rather reluctantly, that we did not fully understand the rule and could not explain it using simple terminology. In addition, the official wording of the rule has changed over the years and it is easy to be confused.

I found this video on You Tube and think it does a great job explaining how the rule works. If you or anyone you know struggles to understand the nature of this rule, direct them to the following video:
Soccer Offside Rule Explained

[edit on 26/6/2010 by Dark Ghost]

1st rule is that it's called football. I dont understand all this talk of "soccer"

Well in countries like the USA and Australia they already have national codes that are called football. The word "soccer" is used simply so that people living there don't get confused and know which sport is being mentioned. When talking about the game with others not from these two countries, I call it football and refer to it as football.

But let's not split hairs, after all the formal name for the game is Association Football and most people just call it football. There really is no need to get caught up in semantics when dealing with the name of a sport, now is there?

To be fair, it's pretty disgracefull if anyone watching the game doesn't know or understand the offside rule.

A bit like playing chess and not knowing how a knight moves...

reply to post by budski


That's your opinion. In countries where the game is not the major national sport, or for those who do not watch it habitually, it can be confusing.

In regard to the chess analogy, I believe a more suitable example would be explaining the "Castling" move.

[edit on 30/6/2010 by Dark Ghost]