Offside!!

The Football Association have confirmed that clubs will be outlawed from taking advantage of the new interpretation of the offside rule. Problems have arisen after Fifa issued a new interpretation of the offside rule, which meant a player would only be offside if he was actively involved in play.

This caused controversy almost immediately, with Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy pouncing against Southampton after coming from an offside position.

Following this incident Bolton and Leicester both took the new ruling to extreme measures by deliberately placing players in offside positions - but far enough from the play that they were not interfering.

Premiership and Football League officials are ready to announce that any player using the new method will be penalised for 'improper conduct'.

"Bolton's plan was technically within the letter of the law but contrary to the spirit of the game," said an FA spokesman.

"Referees will now be told that if a player is seeking to circumvent the rules they should be cautioned for improper conduct."

Nothing wrong with the old law. Ball passed forward and only one defender between the player and goal. Offside!!! This is just a load of cojones to appease the yanks and the barstoolers who want football turned into basketball without Denis Rodman's lipstick. Pathetic.:mad: :mad:

What exactly were the new rules and when did they come in?

First I heard of them was with the Bolton "controversy".

5. Following discussions in the joint seminar between Elite referees and assistant referees, the following guidelines were agreed as considerations to assist in the interpretation and application of the Offside Law, in connection with “involvement in active play”, in particular “interfering with an opponent”:
- A player in an offside position , and also in the opinion of the referee, on the path of the ball, interferes with play or his opponents.
- A player in an offside position, by his manner and direction of movement, near the path of the ball, in the opinion of the referee, interferes with an opponent (e.g. getting closer to the path of the ball).
- A player in an offside position and clearly in the goalkeeper’s line of vision (between him and the kicker ), in the opinion of the referee, interferes with the goalkeeper (distraction).

In connection with interpreting and applying the Offside Law concerning “gaining an advantage by being in that position”, assistant referees were reminded of their responsibilities to be alert in situations where, for example, the ball rebounds from a goal post or cross bar or goalkeeper, to a player who was in an offside position when the ball was last played by his team-mate.


6. In connection with assistant referees making judgements concerning offside, they were reminded that it is better to be slightly late and correct, than to be too quick and wrong.

7. If a flag signal for offside is given and is not seen immediately by the referee; the assistant referee must keep signalling until it has been recognised or the ball is clearly in control of the defending team (the electronic beep signal is used to alert the referee to the flag signal).

8. For very tight judgements where an assistant referee decides “not offside” a discreet hand signal may give valuable support to the referee when the referee makes eye-contact.

So how were teams getting an advantage from free kicks in particular? Those rules would suggest that you can't stand in the keeper's way or head towards the ball if you're in an offside position...?

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce will continue to exploit the new interpretation of the offside rule after it paid dividends for his side in their 1-1 draw at Leicester.

But he hopes it is soon scrapped for the good of the game.

Bolton midfielder Kevin Nolan retreated from an offside position and was deemed not to be interfering with play just before Leicester goalkeeper Ian Walker fumbled the ball into his own net to cancel out Les Ferdinand's goal for the Foxes.

Allardyce, whose team moved up to eighth with the point, said: "We had a look at the new regulations and we've got to use them to our benefit.

"I don't like them, I think they detract from the game, but it's not the referees' fault, it's Fifa's, they've got it horribly wrong but we've got to use it to our advantage the way we used it to upset Leicester.

"What we do is try all we can to make life difficult for the opposition and we're probably one of the first to start implementing it and one or two more are going to have a look at it, but we could end up with a situation where 22 players are in the box for a free-kick and that is not in the spirit of the game whatsoever.

"I don't like it personally, referees don't like it and the FA should look at it and put our case forward and show common sense.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Ref
"Referees will now be told that if a player is seeking to circumvent the rules they should be cautioned for improper conduct."

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Very subjective, that will result in bookings for players that were actually just caught off side.... Notice Ruud was mentioned above, even before this season, he'd stand offside and move onside before the free was taken. If the defence moves up, will that be improper conduct? No clarity whatsoever, and for once even I will not blame the ref's for this fúck up...

Quote:

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Originally posted by Macy
Very subjective, that will result in bookings for players that were actually just caught off side.... Notice Ruud was mentioned above, even before this season, he'd stand offside and move onside before the free was taken. If the defence moves up, will that be improper conduct?

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bookings for offside will hardly happen.

bolton and leicester took the rule to the extreme and took it too far.

what ruud van nistelrooy and thierry henry do every week is really what the rule allows for.

look at henry when arsenal are playing around with the ball at the back or in midfield.

hes nearly always behind the defenders in an offside position.

but just as the ball is played, he runs back, is just onside, runs on to the ball and, goal.

and well, goals are what its all about.