Offside

The evolution of the offside law has profoundly influenced the way football is played and enjoyed today.

The offside law has become decidedly complicated over the years, what with phases of play, being active, being inactive, interfering with play, interfering with an opponent, gaining an advantage and finally the miserable geometry used by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to detect if someone’s armpit is offside. But, how did offside come about, where did it come from and how did we arrive at the current state of play?  

Where did offside come from?

The offside principle originated from the unorganised game of medieval mob football. These games featured a loose idea to discourage players from “goal-hanging”, waiting near the opposing goal for easy scoring chances. A reference to a law similar to offside was recorded in the game of “hurling to goals” played in Cornwall in the early 17th century:

“He who hath the ball must deale no Fore-ball, he may not throw it to any of his mates, standing neerer the goale, then himselfe.”

This is a lot less convoluted than the current offside law, which is four pages long.

The issue of offside continued into the 19th where there is good evidence of how the early football pioneers viewed the game and offside. For example, an article dated 28th November 1863 in the Sporting Gazette titled "Football: A Comparison of the Principal Rules as Played in the Leading Codes of Laws" included the following:

"For a player to place himself nearer his opponent's goal than the ball, and to wait for it to be kicked to him, is not anywhere recognised but as being decidedly unfair".

Another example can be found at Eton, in their “Eton College Magazine” dated the 19th November 1832 where they mention “sneaking”:

 “A player is considered to be sneaking when only three, or less than three, of the opposite side are before him and may not kick the ball.”

At Cambridge their rules, established in 1848, included the term “loitering”:

“No player is allowed to loiter between the ball and the adversaries' goal.”

These examples suggest that issues of unfair play significantly impacted Victorian footballers' enjoyment of the game and reinforced their understanding of what was considered honorable behaviour. Players were expected to embody these principles during matches. One instance reflecting their commitment to fair play occurred when a team refused to accept a penalty awarded in their favour, believing that their opponents would never intentionally commit a foul.

These ideals were apparent in the early laws of the game devised at English public schools and universities. Offside play was deemed “ungentlemanly” and something needed to be done about these sneakers and loiterers, it just wasn’t British. I can imagine that there was much mustachioed musing from the lawmakers of early football about how best to deal with these bounders. 

I quite enjoy the words sneaking and loitering when describing an offence in football, words like that are just not used enough in modern football. However, the term goal-hanging lives on. For me it conjures up a memory of that kid in park football who didn’t do any of the hard yards, hung around the goal until the ball arrived so they could put it between the jumpers and wheel away in glory. Goal hanging is still seen as unsportsmanlike amongst the park football fraternity. 

A Strict Interpretation

Many of the first offside laws were born out of the informal and uncodified football games played at public schools. The famous novel “Tom Brown’s School Days” published in 1857, based on the author’s time at Rugby School between 1834 and 1842 includes a reference to offside:

“My sons! You have gone past the ball, and must struggle now right through the scrummage, and get round and back again to your own side, before you can be of any further use.” 

Rugby School published the first ever set of laws of any code of football in 1845 and it included the following about offside:

“No player being off his side shall kick the ball in any case whatever. No player being off his side shall hack, charge, run in, touch the ball in goal, or interrupt a catch. A player being off his side shall not touch the ball on the ground, except in touch.”

Around this time many schools and universities had the same take on offside, in that it was a strict rule. Essentially, any player ahead of the ball, when a teammate was in possession of it, is offside and cannot kick the ball, touch the ball down (handling the ball was allowed at this point), or interfere with an opponent, similar to modern rugby. This restrictive approach encouraged dribbling forward, lateral or backwards passing (although passing was limited) and minimised forward progression of the ball. In opposition to this, having no offside law discouraged dribbling and encouraged a long ball game that could be too spread out for any cohesive football to be played, by modern standards.

The strict offside rule - "A player is offside if he is in front of the ball and must return behind the ball as soon as possible. If the ball is kicked by his own side past the player he may not touch or kick it, or advance until one of the opposition has first kicked it or one of his own side is level with or in front of him and has been able to kick it."

In this diagram the blue team is attacking the red's goal. Any blue player in advance of their teammate with the ball (shown here by the yellow line) is offside. 

This rule encouraged dribbling with the ball because forward passes were not possible. Teams lined up in packs and the opposition tried to force their way through by running with the ball.

However, some schools and universities had a more balanced interpretation. For example, in 1847 the laws of the Eton Field Game, a player could not be considered "sneaking" if there were four or more opponents between him and the opponents' goal line. The official law stated:

“A player is considered to be sneaking when only three, or less than three, of the opposite side are before him and may not kick the ball.”

The Cambridge Rules of 1856 and the Charterhouse School Rules of 1863 had a similar “rule of four”.

Cambridge rule:

“If the ball has passed a player, and has come from the direction of his own goal, he may not touch it till the other side have kicked it, unless there are more than three of the other side before him.”

Charterhouse rule:

“Any player is off his side, or behind, when only three or less than three of the opposite side are between himself and the opposite goal.”

The "rule of four" introduced by these institutions promoted a more balanced approach, encouraging a mix of dribbling and forward passes. This marked the early foundations of the sport we now know as football. However, it would take a significant amount of time and evolution before the game resembled modern football as we recognise it today.

The rule of four - "A player is offside when three or less of the opposition are between him and the goal and may not touch or kick the ball or interfere with the opposition".

In this diagram the yellow offside line is in-line with the fourth last red defender. Any blue player beyond the fourth last defender is offside. This allowed players to be in advance of the ball and encouraged forward play. Although dribbling was still the main skill, forward passes were possible making the formations looser than previously.

Independent football clubs

The independent football clubs that were formed pre 1860, such as the Foot-Ball Club of Edinburgh (1833), Surrey Football Club (1849), Sheffield Football Club (1858) and Melbourne Football Club (1859) did not have any written laws that covered offside. However, the "Sheffield Rules" developed in 1858 by Sheffield FC, introduced a radical alternative known as “kick throughs”, who were permanently positioned close to the goals. Sheffield’s version only penalised a player for being offside if they were standing within 6 yards (5.5 meters) from the opposing goal when receiving the ball. This liberal approach to offside was unlike anything the public schools and universities had to offer. This significant divergence allowed players greater freedom of movement and emphasised attacking play. As a result, games under the Sheffield Rules were typically more open and high-scoring. This more permissive interpretation influenced the eventual liberalisation of offside laws in the broader game. The early 1860s saw a departure from the strict offside law by some clubs. 

Kick through rule - A player could only be offside if they were standing within 6 yards of the opposition's goal when receiving the ball. This led to numerous long passes and stretched the game, as a defender had to track the kick-through player.

The FA Laws (1863), J.C Thring and The Three-Defender Rule

J.C Thring, a resident master at Uppingham School from 1859 to 1864 was an advocate of a unified code for football and published a proposed set of laws called “The Simplest Game”. He believed in an ultra strict offside law and thought many that existed were too lax. On the 17th of November, 1863, the newly formed Football Association adopted Thring’s offside law from the Simplest Game:

“A player is "out of play" immediately if he is in front of the ball and must return behind the ball as soon as possible. If the ball is kicked by his own side past the player he may not touch or kick it, or advance until one of the other side has first kicked it or one of his own side on a level with or in front of him has been able to kick it.”

It did not last long and the offside law taken from “The Simplest Game” was replaced in the same year. We can assume that the football being played wasn’t satisfactory and instead the FA replaced it with a modified version of the Cambridge Rules offside law. The FA’s new offside law was mildly less strict than that of Thring’s:

“When a player has kicked the ball any one of the same side who is nearer to the opponent's goal line is out of play and may not touch the ball himself nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so until the ball has been played; but no player is out of play when the ball is kicked from behind the goal line.“

The exception of the "kick from behind the goal line" (goal kick) was necessary as every player on the attacking side would have otherwise been offside.

When the FA were in the process of revising their laws for the first time in 1866, the offside law once again came up for discussion. It was argued that the strictness stifled attacking play and limited goal-scoring opportunities, favoring defensive strategies. Consequently, they added an important resolution, “the three player rule”. It required at least three defending players to be between the attacker and the goal when the ball was played:

“When a player has kicked the ball, any one of the same side who is nearer to the opponents' goal line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from doing so, until the ball has been played, unless there are at least three of his opponents between him and their own goal; but no player is out of play when the ball is kicked from behind the goal line.”

The modification of the law was met with significant debate, with arguments and counterarguments on both sides. At one point, there was even a discussion about whether an offside law was necessary, given that independent football clubs of the time had played without one.

Advocates for change

The desire to revert back to a strict offside law, change the three-player rule or abolish the rule altogether did not relent over the subsequent years and there were many proposed changes put to the FA, all of which were unsuccessful.

These proposals or attempted changes to the offside law happened between 1867 and 1874. On the 2nd March 1867, an article in the sports newspaper “Bell’s Life in London” reported that Barnes FC proposed that the offside law should be removed altogether. Their argument was that, "a player did not stop to count whether there were three of his opponents between him and their own goal". The Sheffield Football Association had multiple attempts at proposing the one-player rule that they had developed. To add to the offside maelstrom, articles in the Sportsman and Sporting life reported that Branham College had proposed to the FA that they should revert back to the original "strict" offside law.

The offside law had long been a contentious issue between the Sheffield Football Association, which operated under its own set of laws, and the Football Association. However, when the two organizations unified in 1877, the Sheffield clubs agreed to adopt the FA's three-player offside law. This agreement came with a compromise, the FA allowed throw-ins to be taken in any direction, a practice favored by Sheffield clubs, whereas the original FA rule required the ball to be thrown perpendicular to the touchline, similar to modern rugby.

The curious case of the “one back” tactic

The three player offside law happily existed for a time, until something odd happened at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The original rule meant that you could be caught offside anywhere on the pitch, including in your team's own half. This hadn’t caused too many problems previously and being caught offside in your own half rarely happened. However, a tactical mastermind came up with the idea of the “one back” tactic, this meant leaving only the goalkeeper and one defender in defensive positions while the rest of the team pushed forward. This had not been done before and had seismic repercussions, as it meant that teams could be caught offside deep into their own half, and even in their own eighteen yard box. An article from “The Athletic News” entitled “Sunderland outplayed”, in December 1901 reported:

“Most of the play was confined to the Sunderland quarters, and we had the spectacle of one of their forwards being given off-side in his own half”

In 1895 Clyde FC had already developed a solution to the problem and suggested to the Scottish Football Association that players should not be offside in their own half. A simple solution, which was rejected by the Scottish FA on the grounds that it would lead to "forwards hanging about close to the half-way line, as opportunists." This may seem odd now, as that is exactly what they are supposed to do in modern football. It was only after an international match between Scotland and England in 1906 that the proposal was accepted. England employed the “one back” tactic which meant that Scotland's wingers were repeatedly caught offside making the game a debacle of a spectacle. Clyde FC again made their proposal for change and the Scottish FA accepted it.

The FA were very interested in the rule change and supported the Scottish FA in 1906 when they put the proposal to the International Football Association Board. The International Football Association Board (The IFAB) was founded in 1886 by the four British football associations (The English FA, Scottish FA, FA of Wales and Irish FA) as the worldwide body with sole responsibility for developing and preserving the "Laws of the Game" (they were pompously known as the “guardians of the laws”). The changes were approved and introduced in June 1907.

The "one back" tactic - Because a player could be caught offside anywhere on the pitch, the one back tactic meant that a team could push all of their players forward, except for the "one back" defender.

In this diagram the blues are attacking the red's goal. As you can see the "one back" is standing on the half way line, if the reds clear the ball their player in advance of the yellow line will be offside.

The solution was that players could not be offside in their own half. However, at this point there had to be three players between the goal and the attacking player. This diagram shows the blue attacker in an offside position.