They say it is a sign of getting old when you start shouting at the television. I don’t think that’s right as I’ve been shouting at the television for more years than I care to remember. What is it that usually gets me telling people who can’t hear me, that they don’t know what they are talking about? You’ve guessed it, football pundits.
Over the years there have been a great
many who open their mouths only to show their ignorance, but there is one appearing on BBC
Match of the Day who infuriates like no other. He sits there with a smug grin and makes arrogant remarks about referees and their decisions. His name of course is Alan Shearer. His arrogance and lack of understanding came to the fore a couple of weeks ago when he was discussing the Arsenal v Middlesbrough match. One of his insufferable statements was that even referees don’t understand the offside law as it now applies. What a nerve to claim to speak for referees. I believe that most referees, if not all, understand it perfectly. We may not always get it right but then we never did. This is not due to a not a lack of understanding of the law, but a mistake in applying it. I know from experience, it’s not always as easy as it seems.
What really annoyed me and showed Shearer’s ignorance was when he talked about ‘gaining an advantage by being in an offside position’. The incident he showed was two Middlesbrough players running towards the Arsenal goal, one in the middle of the pitch who was in an offside position and the other on the left wing who was not. The ball was passed to the onside player who took it down field and crossed it to his team mate who was now behind him and he scored an excellent and legal goal.
Shearer then showed an extract from the offside law which said that there were three reasons why an offside player should be penalised; interfering with play, interfering with an opponent and gaining an advantage by being in an offside position.
It was this last reason, gaining an advantage, for which he claimed the Middlesbrough goal should have been disallowed, He said the player who was in an offside position from the first pass had gained an advantage by being there. The problem for us referees of course is that when someone like Shearer illustrates his comments with extracts of the law, then viewers will think he actually knows what he is talking about, when nothing could be further from the truth.
The ‘gaining an advantage’ clause relates to one specific type of incident and that is when the ball rebounds to a player in an offside position from the cross bar, goalpost or goalkeeper. The major change to the offside law in 1995 was to this clause and what the International FA Board hoped to achieve was a greater number of goals and giving the attacking side the edge.
Previously, if a player shot on goal from a little way out and it went directly into the net but there was a team mate in an offside position, it could have been disallowed as the offside player was said to be ‘seeking to gain an advantage’. By taking out the words ‘seeking to’ those goals are now allowed to stand, the offside player is only penalised if he actually gains an advantage by the ball rebounding to him. It has absolutely nothing to do with a player in an offside position who doesn’t receive the ball in open play.
There has been talk that Shearer plans to go into management so I hope he does that soon. Apart from wiping that arrogant grin off his face, it might save my television set from getting something thrown at it.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2008