Offside Rule

[Yankee_Jack]

This appeared on the BBC Football site today: VAR: Arsene Wenger suggests offside law could 'change a little bit'

Wenger is advocating a change to the offside rule, suggesting ... "amending the law so that "you will not be offside if any part of the body that can score a goal is in line with the last defender, even if other parts of the attacker's body are in front"."

Let's cut to chase. The offside law that many of us grew up with required two defenders to be between the attacking player and the goal line for an attacking player to not be offside. This was pretty straight forward, between means between, not along side. If you're alongside then there's no between. "Along side" or in-line is a knife edge ... in reality you are either definitely or biased one way or the other. Determining along side or in-line is impossible. All this "in-line" stuff is absolute nonsense.

Part of the FAW coaching license years ago was the passing of a referee's exam, by at least 80%. I have run the line on many occasions, if you're fit, and keep up with the play, it's not that difficult to determine "between". It really isn't, but keeping up with the play is critical to making the right decision.

If you are a linesman, and you are looking across the line of play, then you are looking at the attacking and defending players' body as a whole, not a nose, a toe, an elbow, etc. If a linesman says he can track all those little parts he's talking shit. If the play is on the other side of the field some 70 yards then it becomes even more ridiculous. At the point of decision everything is usually in motion and its the whole body perception that factors into the decision. If the linesman is not in-line with the play, then the best that can be done is a guess, which is where experience comes into play, and again it's based on the whole body perspective and not on the parts. But determining between versus in-line is easier to do.

We discussed this several months back and I remember positing that VAR should be looking at the attacking player's feet. His feet define where he is standing and not some extraneous body part, and for that matter the same for the critical defender, who may or not be anywhere close to the attacking player. But the critical distinction still becomes between versus in-line.

 

[ivoralljack]

that VAR should be looking at the attacking player's feet.

When the rows started I also said that the position of the feet should be the ONLY criteria used by VAR. It simplifies the entire process and everyone knows what the rule is. Some offsides are impossible for a linesman to judge anyway. If he is in line with the last man when a ball is launched deep from the other half, how can he know where the front man is if he's looking to see when the ball is struck? He'd need eyes on each side of his head!!

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Here is a well explained history of the offside rule: The History of the Offside Rule | Sideline Soccer. I paste below.

The rule change in 1990 is the starting point of the current mess. This rule changed the definition of onside requiring two opposing players "in front" of the attacking player (i.e. between the attacker and the goal line) to "level with" the second to last opposing player (i.e. in-line").

As @ivoralljack said, the other critical element is "when the ball is played", which really requires the linesman to have his wits about him, understand and follow the play developing in front of him and to be constantly and rapidly switching his focus between the line of play and the ball. Effectively the offside decision is an interpolation of the time series of last player positions, ball, current player positions. The idea of "in-line" is nice in theory but it is a knife edge in practice, which results in the linesman having a sense of between or not between versus in-line.

The Offside Rule – 1863

The offside rule originated in 1863. A player was considered offside unless three players of the opposing side are in front of him (includes goalkeeper). So in the above diagram, the player with the ball is considered offside because only two players are in front of him.

The Offside Rule – 1925

The offside rule was changed in 1925. A player was considered offside unless two players of the opposing team are in front of him (includes goalkeeper). So in the above diagram, the player with the ball is NOT considered offside because two players are in front of him.

The Offside Rule – 1990

The offside rule was changed again in 1990. A player is onside if he is level with the second-to-last player of the opposing team (includes goalkeeper). So in the above diagram, the player with the ball is NOT considered offside because he is level with the second-to-last player.

 

[IanABS94]

When the rows started I also said that the position of the feet should be the ONLY criteria used by VAR. It simplifies the entire process and everyone knows what the rule is. Some offsides are impossible for a linesman to judge anyway. If he is in line with the last man when a ball is launched deep from the other half, how can he know where the front man is if he's looking to see when the ball is struck? He'd need eyes on each side of his head!!

I agree with you Ivor, that would be the easiest way to do it but for me I think that the body part that scores could be very easily checked if it was offside. I get that it could still be up for debate but it does make it easier. I'm sick of this armpit hair offside nonsense with VAR.