Having covered in the past two weeks, the couple of insignificant changes made
to the Laws of the Game this season, let me tell you about a change that has
not
been made despite what you may have heard elsewhere.
Watching early season games on BBC television I
started worrying that there was a change I had missed. The pundits and commentators continually referred
to a new ruling about offside. It was a new FIFA Instruction declared John
Motson. It was claimed that to be offside, it was no longer enough for the
attacker just to be in front of the second last defender. The assistant referee had
to see daylight, 'clear air' was the definition, between the two players.
I had, in common with all referees in the country, received the FIFA
Instruction leaflet following the International Board meeting in March. I
scanned it again. Nowhere was there any mention of offside, let alone a change
in it's definition. I attended the conference of the FA Match Officials'
Association when John Baker, Head of Refereeing at the FA, ran through the
changes. I couldn't remember him mentioning any alterations to offside.
So confident were the BBC and then ITV pundits took the same line, that I
thought I had better check with my boss at the FA,:Regional
Manager, Referees, Janie Frampton. Janie replied to my e-mail instantly. She confirmed that there
had been no change to the law. No new FIFA instruction had been issued that I
hadn't heard about.
The whole thing came about because the BBC heard of a comment made by
Philip Don who is in charge of the countries top referees. They have then
elaborated on it and taken it out of context. At a pre-season meeting of the
National List and Select Group of referees and assistants, he made reference to
'air' between two players and offside.
He was talking about the human reaction
of the assistants from the time they have seen the offside and to the time they
flagged. He was alluding to the fact that videos of tight offside decisions, often
showed the assistant to be wrong with his flag. What he was trying to suggest
was that assistants give themselves that extra split second to
make a more accurate decision.
There is no doubt that incorrect decisions are made by assistant referees in
tight positions. Two universities, one in Spain and one in Holland have been
studying this subject. It's amazing what they study at university these days isn't
it?
The instances usually occur in tight situations as Philip Don
has said, and a good example is when the assistant referee has his eyes on the player with the
ball. This is particularly true when he is near the touchline and the assistant has
to watch that the ball doesn't go over the line. If the player then kicks the ball
forward the assistant has to alter his sight to look at the second rear most
defender. In the split second that it takes for him to turn his head, an attacker
can have gained ground on the defender.
There is no doubt that this is the type of incidents that Philip Don was referring
to, but the television commentators have got it wrong again. There is no change
to the offside law, no new FIFA instruction. What the law says stands.
A player is in an offside position if he is nearer to the opponents goal line than both the
ball and the second last opponent (with the exception of course if he is in his
own half). There is no degree prescribed by which he must be nearer. As
someone said, take the analogy of a sprinter. When he passes the line he may
only be an inch in front of his next competitor but he's still first. There doesn't
have to be any air between them.
Dick Sawdon Smith