足球越位判定

足球雖然在台灣不是那麼風行，但在世界上是熱門的球類，我除了看球外，偶爾也踢踢球。因為時差關係，在台灣看球是很辛苦的事，常得在半夜爬起來。幾個禮拜前的歐洲盃，便讓我熬夜幾次。另外，台灣對於足球轉播的場次，算是相當少的，常得利用網路電視才能收看，不然就得花錢到有衛星的餐廳、酒吧。
三四年前，曾經去過巴西，看到足球專門電視台，每天24小時都是足球比賽、評論節目、新聞等。轉播比賽也不會出現子母畫面，讓人看不太清楚。廣告常只是個小圖片，出現在畫面中。
足球規則並不簡單，一般人沒法了解得多全面，最容易被人問到的，便是越位規則。越位規則，並不是三言兩語能解釋，也不是看幾次轉播就看得懂的。FIFA官網提供了相當不錯的FLASH動畫說明，能讓人一目瞭然知道多個越位的判定。
官方Flash第一最重要觀念就是Position + Involved in active playing = Offence。Offence指的就是造成越位 (Offside)，Position是處在越位位置，Involved in active playing是有「參與」比賽，「參與」就比較模糊了，除了規則外，裁判的自由心證很重要。Bill Shankly便說過這句名言，

"If he's not interfering with play then what's he doing on the pitch?"
（假如他不是身在比賽中，那麼這當下他在做什麼？）

文字方面的話，官方規則如下，簡單英文深奧意義，所以就不翻譯囉

Offside Position
        It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position. A player is in an offside position if:

• he is nearer to his opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.
• A player is not in an offside position if
• he is in his own half of the field of play or
• he is level with the second last opponent or
• he is level with the last two opponents.

Offence
        A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the
ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

• interfering with play or
• interfering with an opponent or
• gaining an advantage by being in that position.

另外還有這幾種情況是例外的：

There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from: 

• a goal kick
• a throw-in
• a corner kick