More rubbish officiating

**mickrev** · 28/10/2003, 11:13 AM

Nobodies saying much of the fact that Pats were denied one last shot at winning the FAI cup by a referee and a linesmen who clearly dont know the rules of the game. Shane Barrett was blatantly offside for the last minute goal. It Should have been a free to the saints and with everybody piled in the box anything could have happened.

Shoddy officiating like that ruins the domestic game and is just typical of what you'd expect. The ref should have been anticipating and relishing the oppurtunity to enforce the rules when the Keeper was in the opposing half. Instead he seemed oblivious to the rules as did everybody else. I dunno maybe Im wrong but Im sure that there has to be two defenders(including keeper) between attacker and goal when the ball is played for u to be onside. Im pretty sure from the telly that this was not the case.

**pete** · 28/10/2003, 12:40 PM

I didn't notice it on tv until Rico said it on eL weekly last night.

In fairness to the ref aside from that he dah a flawless match & easy to see why he the top eL ref (not that the standard so great).

moving this to eL General for wider audience...

**niamh** · 28/10/2003, 12:42 PM

Is maybe because most fans wanted Longford to win...

**rebelnorrie** · 28/10/2003, 12:45 PM

rico said that last nite on eL weekly,but if it is a rule it seems stupid to me.i know this wouldnt happen,but a team could put their whole team except one player inside the opposing half,and every player that went inside would be offside if the ball was played to them.or am i just bein stupid?

**pineapple stu** · 28/10/2003, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by rebelnorrie
rico said that last nite on eL weekly,but if it is a rule it seems stupid to me. I know this wouldn't happen,but a team could put their whole team except one player inside the opposing half,and every player that went inside would be offside if the ball was played to them. Or am I just bein stupid?

All the other team would have to do though is put four players on the half-way line, where they can't be offside no matter what, and play a long ball up the pitch - suddenly it's four on one and they should be able to score fairly regularly from that. Presume that's the way around it.

In any case though, the other thread on this in the eL section says that that rule doesn't hold if there are less than two players in the opposition half.

**tiktok** · 28/10/2003, 3:21 PM

less than two players wouldn't hold if it was just a goalie and a forward, don't see why it should hold in any other circumstance, he was offside, don't think it would have affected the outcome.

**Dodge** · 28/10/2003, 3:35 PM

Definitely offside and definiitely wouldn't have mattered.

Otherwise I've no complaints with kelly. Definite sending off and definite penalty

**John83** · 28/10/2003, 4:02 PM

Originally posted by mickrev
Nobodies saying much of the fact that Pats were denied one last shot at winning the FAI cup by a referee and a linesmen who clearly dont know the rules of the game. Shane Barrett was blatantly offside for the last minute goal. It Should have been a free to the saints and with everybody piled in the box anything could have happened...

Oh boo-hoo. Clive Delaney should have been sent off for hoppong on Barrett's ankle, but I don't hear you complaining about that. Anything could happen? Someone's been watching Man U's Champions' League win again. The ref did a fine job, and if he missed one or two little things, well big deal. They always do.

Did none of the Pats players know the rule either? Or their manager? Or the fans? Why didn't they point it out to the ref? Hardly anyone noticed until it was pointed out to them, and I won't berate a ref for being like everyone else. I knew the keeper was forward, and I knew the rules, but it never occured to me until I saw the posts here.

**Dodge** · 28/10/2003, 4:25 PM

Originally posted by John83
Did none of the Pats players know the rule either? Or their manager? Or the fans? Why didn't they point it out to the ref?

In fairness Pats fans and players did complain but like I said it wouldn't have mattered. It still wouldn't have stopped Longford deservedly winning the cup so let it go people

**Xlex** · 28/10/2003, 4:27 PM

anyone remember the strange own goal in the Birmingham - Villa league game last year... Steve Staunton was giving out hell because (according to himself) the keeper didn't even touch the ball and thus the score was directly from a throw... It's one of those stupid rules... I never heard of yesterday's offside and I think it's just as stupid a rule, but in saying that I'm just happy with a result and I think the result was foregone at that time....

**mickrev** · 28/10/2003, 5:16 PM

You cant say that it is a stupid rule. It is the very essence of the offside rule. Two defenders between the attacker and goal is the offside rule. The linesman should have been anticipating the offside coming when the keeper ran up the pitch.

Quick free kick on the halway line. Banged in to the box and scrappy equaliser.

It isn't like the linesman or the ref made a bad decision. They just did not enforce the rules because they simply arent good enough. If it happened in any other country there would be uproar.

Ye think its fine though to say that "'era Longford would have won anyway". A very Irish attittude. I could go on a Roy Keane style rant about it really.