Football lawmakers have amended the text of the offside rule after a team in Sweden's third tier found a 'loophole' in the rules.
Torns IF, a club from the small town of Stangby, argued that a player could get around the offside rule by keeping the ball balanced in the crook of their foot as it was the first point of contact.
In fact, the Swedish minnows created a video, as seen below, showcasing the "scoop pass" trick, as their manager asked one of his players, Adam Olafsson, to place the ball on his foot.
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An attacker is then instructed to run beyond the defence, while the ball remains on Olafsson's foot.
Basically, the argument is that, rather than the attacker being offside from Olafsson's subsequent pass, he would have been deemed onside from the first point of contact, and therefore would still be onside even after running beyond the defence.
"Torns IF have developed an ingenious method to create one-on-ones with the goalkeeper," they said in 2023.
"It's based on a rule found on page 93 in the Laws of the Game stating that the first point of contact of the ‘play’ or ‘touch’ of the ball” should be used when judging offside. Groundbreaking."
The "scoop pass" trick went viral, which prompted calls for a change to the law. Torns IF even confirmed that they had been in contact with IFAB about a potential rule change.
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"This is amusing and interesting," they wrote on Twitter. "In terms of the 'spirit' of the Law, this is obviously offside and, in terms of the Law itself, the 'balancing' of the ball on the foot is a different 'play' from the movement which gives the ball momentum to move.
"We will review if the wording of Law 11 needs changing in light of this 'theoretical' situation."
Almost two years on and the International Football Association Board [IFAB] has now amended the text of the offside law to clarify at which point an offside assessment should be made.
As pointed out by The Guardian, a clarification has been made to a footnote of the offside law for 2025-26 and relates to one example of a “delayed” pass – when a goalkeeper throws the ball upfield with a view to releasing a forward behind the opponents’ defence.
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Taking to social media to celebrate the news, @TornsIF1965 wrote: "We did it. Torns IF changed the rules of football. After the introduction of the Torn pass and lengthy e-mail correspondence with IFAB, the offside law has been amended."
The club added: "We are immensely proud of our contribution to the beautiful game."
As seen in the screenshot above, offside assessment will be made at the “last point of contact” before the keeper releases the ball. In all other passing instances, a judgment is made related to “the first point of contact”.
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Former Premier League referee David Elleray, who is technical director of IFAB, also thanked Torns IF for their contribution to the clarification and for their "gentle persistence" in the matter.
Jack Kenmare