What is offside?

[Mike Simonds]

Do you know by what rules you are playing by? I know that flag football uses a unique set of rules and I don't have the resources for that. Perhaps one of the regulars will refer us to the web-site for flag football rules.

In National Federation rules (used by high schools in 48 states and most youth leagues) encroachment is a dead-ball foul (prior to the snap), penalized 5 yards from the succeeding spot (where the ball will next be snapped) and occurs when: after the referee blows his whistle for the ready to play, and the snapper has placed his hands on the ball, a player from A (offense) or B (defense) is in the neutral zone. This is the most common form of encroachment (the other fouls are a little advanced for this post but we can talk about those later).

In NCAA rules (used by colleges), encroachment is the same as above but it can only be a foul by the offensive team.

In NCAA rules, offsides is a dead-ball foul when (after the referee blows the ready for play whistle and after the center touches the ball) a defensive player enters the neutral zone and makes contact with an offensive player, touches the ball (both 5 yard fouls) or hurdling the offensive player (15 yard yard foul).

In NCAA rules, offsides is a live-ball foul (let the play run) if a member of the defense is in the neutral zone at the time of the snap (but did not touch the ball or an offensive player before the snap).

I think this is enought to get the ball rolling (or snapped) for discussion purposes...