An unusual occurrence in the recent Manchester City v Fulham game, raised no argument from managers, television commentators or pundits, only the two Fulham players concerned raised their arms in half hearted appeals.
The incident occurred with the first Manchester goal by Joleon Lescott, who was standing on the Fulham goal line, when he scored after a forward pass from one of his colleagues. The goalkeeper had come forward off his line and there was only one defender on the line at the time of the pass to Lescott. If you look at the law on offside, it says that, ‘a player is in an offside position if he is nearer to his opponent’s goal line and the ball
than the second last defender’.
Lescott really couldn’t have been any nearer to the opponent’s goal line; he was actually standing on it. There was a defender level with Lescott on the goal line but the law says ‘second last defender’, not last, so why didn’t the assistant referee flag for offside? The clue is that there was another Fulham defender, who in the mêlée that had ensued just before, had gone off the field accidentally and was in the back of the net.
The purpose of mentioning all this is that in this year’s amendments to the Laws of the Game, the interpretation of the law on offside in these circumstances was rewritten. This was all due to the famous incident during the Euro 2008 tournament, when former Manchester United striker, Ruud Van Nistlerooy scored a goal for Holland against Italy from what seemed like a clear offside position. The referee was castigated by the ITV commentators and their studio pundits at the time.
It may be remembered that the Italian goalkeeper came out to punch a high ball played into his penalty area, which was being challenged for by Van Nistlerooy and an Italian defender. The goalkeeper succeeded in clearing the ball momentarily but he also knocked his own player off the field behind the goal line, alongside the goal. The ball was then played back to where Van Nistlerooy stood on his own, only the goalkeeper between him and the goal and he put it in the back of the net.
The next day, the UEFA authorities made a statement saying referee was correct in his decision as the player off the field was still treated as if he were on the field. It was exactly how all referees interpreted the situation but when the law was scrutinized afterwards, it was perhaps not as clear as was first thought. So this amendment to the law is not a change in interpretation but an attempt to make it clearer to everyone.
The law now says, ‘Any defending player leaving the field of play for any reason without the referees permission shall be considered to be on his own goal line or touchline for the purpose of offside until the next stoppage of play. If the player leaves the field of play deliberately, he must be cautioned when the ball is next out of play.’
This means that if a player goes off the field after an injury or say to remove jewellery, he goes with the referee’s permission. If however, like the Fulham defender, he goes off accidentally then he is still regarded, for offside, as being on the field of play. Although he has not been given permission by the referee it is not considered that he has committed any offence. If, however, a player were to step deliberately off the field with the intention of putting an opponent offside then it is different. He would still be considered on the field for the offside but cautioned for leaving the field without the referee’s permission.
As I said, it’s no change but now more clearly written so even ITV commentators can understand it.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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