[Football] This rule about the linesman not putting his flag up for offside until the passage of play has finished

[Brovion]

The rule should be abolished

I get the point of it. But linos are oh so predictably playing it so ridiculously safe that it's creating these wierd phantom passages of play. Kind of like Schrodingers football. There is some football, but also there isn't. Everyone knows its going to be pulled back, but we're still playing football.

It's farcical. Linos should just be empowered to call it like they see it. Sure you'll get the odd cock up.

I ran the line yesterday morning, I allowed a goal which I reckon VAR, had it existed probably would have disallowed. But if it's a toenail, even if it's a knee, who cares? It's still not goalhanging, which is what offside was meant to stop

I like the description of 'Schrodingers football!'

Yeah, I understand why the rule was brought in, but the execution of it IS farcical. A classic example of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. As you say you get these pieces of 'zombie play' where the game is ostensibly going on but everybody knows it'll get called back because of an obvious offside. The players know it's offside, the officials know it's offside, the managers/coaches know it's offside, the fans know it's offside, the police, stewards, St John's Ambulance people, ball boys etc know it's offside - but we play on just in case. Better safe than sorry and all that.

I do like the idea of a separate signal for 'potential offside'

 

[WhingForPresident]

Flags going up straight away for our offsides.
Played on until a shot for them.

City at home last season as well.

 

[Jovis]

All the time we’re playing this high-line, I’d rather it went up as soon as possible.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

On balance, I'd leave it the way it is, but encourage the lino's to flag the more obvious ones immediately. I know that is what they are supposed to be doing now, but maybe raise the bar a bit on what is obvious and what isn't.

The main problem with it now are the TV commentators and pundits endlessly going on and on about it and the irrelevant 'what if he got injured' argument. Sacking Jonathan Pearce would be a good start.

 

[Charles 'Charley' Charles]

As per my rant about the officials in the other thread: Elanga was clearly off from a long ball forward in the first half, Veltman beat him to the ball, then Forest won it back and played the ball through to Elanga, who was then onside, and play continued. As far as I can recall they didn't end up getting a shot away, but the lino not putting his flag up could've quite easily resulted in a goal. Would they disallow it with VAR if its a different passage of play? I know they should, but I'm not confident they would've done.

But you can’t be off side from a throw in, I have an irrational frustration that we don’t take advantage of this and try quicker throws.

 

[Goldstone1976]

What do you see as the difference between the two words for these purposes?

Are = something is
Aren’t = something is not

 

[GT49er]

I get why they changed it. And I’m not suggesting get the old system back. I’m suggesting that in practice the system doesn’t work as well as it does in theory, so tweak it and make it work properly in practice.

Simple; linesman raises the flag for offside straight away, players play to the whistle, not the flag.

 

[nwgull]

It's a "best solution" not a "perfect solution". Case in point was when Forest broke yesterday and it looked to me like both players were miles off, lino didn't flag and Forest then won a corner. There's no recourse for moments like that.

Unless, of course, he just wasn't offside and I'm blind (which is possible)

In this case, the lino must've judged that they weren't offside, no? The lino delays flagging in case the potentially offside player scores from that passage of play, in which case it's checked by VAR anyway, and if he doesn't then he flags. I recorded the game yesterday but have only had the cahnce to watch about 30 mins so far, but if you can remember the incident, then I'll have a better look.

Example from yesterday that I have seen was when Wood put that chance wide after about 20 mins. Lino flagged after Wood had fluffed the finish and the restart was the marginal advantage of a free kick on edge of the box rather than a goal kick.

 

[Commander]

Simple; linesman raises the flag for offside straight away, players play to the whistle, not the flag.

Wouldn't work. Way to confusing for players and fans. Would also mean the linesman couldn't flag for fouls etc. Not that they ever do anymore.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

When the semi-automated offside law is brought in do we do away with linesmen and leave it to the referee ?

 

[maffew]

Just scrap offsides, didn't need them in the park, goal hangers got called out and kicked about a bit. Rush back goalies would be a good improvement too

 

[Blue3]

What worries me is it’s offside but play is allowed to continue a defender racing back throws a last grasp tackle injuring himself and the attacking player

 

[oxymoron]

Wouldn't work. Way to confusing for players and fans. Would also mean the linesman couldn't flag for fouls etc. Not that they ever do anymore.

How about if the lineman were to wear a strobe on their heads that they could activate when an off side occurred so this flashing orange, or red if you prefer, strobe would tell the crowd an infringement was being considered.

 

[kevo]

It's a right mess. I think linos DO still put their flags up when it is CLEARLY offside, which is why people were getting on the back of the fella on the East side yesterday. A couple of instances where he could have flagged because it was obvious.

While we're on the subject, it annoys me that TV highlights show chances that are offside as if there were legitimate chances - like the Forest one near the end yesterday. Clearly offside and would have been disallowed, yet it looks as if they almost scored.

 

[GT49er]

Wouldn't work. Way to confusing for players and fans. Would also mean the linesman couldn't flag for fouls etc. Not that they ever do anymore.

No they don't. So irrelevant to the argument.

Ignore the flag, play to the whistle, simple to explain, simple to understand (for the fans, and for even the thickest of footballers). Better than lighting up a flashing flag and telling 'em not to be confused anyway!

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

If you are the last defender and you know the forward is clearly offside, but the play continues and then you decide to run back and do a last ditch tackle, but mistime it injuring their player (possibly deliberately). The ref is about to blow to give a penalty and red card, but the sees the lino eventually raise his flag.
What does the ref do then?

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

I get the premise behind it, but it doesn’t work, and just ruins the flow of the game, and winds the fans up who get on the linesman's back for not flagging. It happened numerous times yesterday, when the Linesman was just following the rules but a large proportion of the fans don't understand the rule.

It's another example of bringing in a rule to try to improve the game that makes sense in theory, but when you put it into practice it doesn't work. Sometimes you need to put these things into practice to realise they aren't a good idea.

But why can’t the flag have a button on it that the Lino presses to say ‘I know it’s offside but I won’t flag for it yet as I’m allowing the phase of play to play out”. Then if the attacking team score from it, he puts his flag up and disallows the goal. If they don't, then we play on. The flag could light up or something so the fans know what’s going on. The game can then continue without an unnecessary stoppage, and the linesman doesn't get continuous abuse every time there is an offside.

Problem solved.

That button already exists and is used by every AR from The Isthmian League and Up.

Obviously the flag doesn’t light up though.

The AR would also be telling the referee in his headset that it’s offside as well. All referees from National League North / South and up now use them.

 

[Kuipers Supporters Club]

If you are the last defender and you know the forward is clearly offside, but the play continues and then you decide to run back and do a last ditch tackle, but mistime it injuring their player (possibly deliberately). The ref is about to blow to give a penalty and red card, but the sees the lino eventually raise his flag.
What does the ref do then?

Gives the offside and sends the player off for deliberately endangering the safety of an opponent.

 

[trueblue]

It's quite annoying with our high line as it's distorting the perception of how many good chances our opponents get. A few misses that would have been disallowed anyway have already appeared in highlights and it's similar watching live.

There was an annoying one yesterday which could have been costly. A player looked well offside in the build-up to what became a Forest corner. If they'd scored from that, too late for VAR to intervene and a team benefits from a whole sequence of events that would never have happened if the flag was raised immediately.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Keep them down for tight ones

Don’t stop, I’m almost there