The Offside Law

I have just been reading that the goal that Downing scored against West Ham was probably given because once Lord Haw Haw had beaten out the shot a new phase of play had developed

Why the fook do they have to mess with this rule - if a player is standing three yards out in an offside position then clearly he is gaining an advantage

Under the original rule everyone knew the score - if you are offside you are offside end of story

It should be soooo simple

He was offside, no doubt. That's definitely why we lost.

Ezekiel 25:17 wrote:He was offside, no doubt. That's definitely why we lost.

The thing I was reading implied that because Green had intentionally beaten out the shot this new phase thing came in whereas if he had fumbled the ball trying to hold it then it wouldnt

What a load of bollocks!!

Lionheart wrote:I have just been reading that the goal that Downing scored against West Ham was probably given because once Lord Haw Haw had beaten out the shot a new phase of play had developed

Why the fook do they have to mess with this rule - if a player is standing three yards out in an offside position then clearly he is gaining an advantage

Under the original rule everyone knew the score - if you are offside you are offside end of story

It should be soooo simple

Couldn't agree more. The current rules require that referees use their judgement - I swear Van Nistlerooy used to spend most of his time in the opponents 6-yard-box (not interferring with play/not involved in the build-up) just so he could tap in the rebounds. Fact is you gain an advantage by being in an (old) offside position but as long as you don't play the ball a split second later you've still got the advantage should the ball come back to you. It's crap and it has been for a while. The old offside rule was sometimes frustrating - "He's not interferring with play ref!" - but at least you knew where you were.

jpr60 wrote:

Lionheart wrote:I have just been reading that the goal that Downing scored against West Ham was probably given because once Lord Haw Haw had beaten out the shot a new phase of play had developed

Why the fook do they have to mess with this rule - if a player is standing three yards out in an offside position then clearly he is gaining an advantage

Under the original rule everyone knew the score - if you are offside you are offside end of story

It should be soooo simple

Couldn't agree more. The current rules require that referees use their judgement - I swear Van Nistlerooy used to spend most of his time in the opponents 6-yard-box (not interferring with play/not involved in the build-up) just so he could tap in the rebounds. Fact is you gain an advantage by being in an (old) offside position but as long as you don't play the ball a split second later you've still got the advantage should the ball come back to you. It's crap and it has been for a while. The old offside rule was sometimes frustrating - "He's not interferring with play ref!" - but at least you knew where you were.

Absolutely Lion and JPR. If ever you've seen a rule changed to cause the maximum controversy and trouble, this is it.
The linesman is on a hiding to nothing. How can you have a rule so open to interpretation, IN A SPLIT SECOND?
You're right it is bollocks!!!
So, there's a man standing in the penalty box in an offside position when a shot is struck goalwards from way outside the area. He's deemed to be not interfering but the shot hits the bar/post and the player (originally in the offside position) can now score simply because he was allowed to be in an advantaged position but deemed to be not interfering. Phew!! I'm sure you know what I mean.
Crazy!!!!

Ezekiel 25:17 wrote:He was offside, no doubt. That's definitely why we lost.

And the fact that you didn't field any beefed-up players!

The kids team i coach are now U12's and this is their second season at 11 a side.I've basically kept it to the old rule in training as such a difficult thing to teach the kids.Too many grey areas and to be fair in kids football the linesman is generally a Dad who doesn't know the fecking rules anyway