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Foy lucky to escape further punishment.jpeg "Chris Foy: Blackburn v Swansea")
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Goal-line technology could be used in 2012-2013“Show the offside rule a yellow card”
12 Jan 2010
The offside rule is back in the news. Lately managers (well, Sir Alex Ferguson at least) have succeeded in pushing fitness and stoppage time to the top of the agenda regarding Premier League officials, but there is nothing like the frustration of a controversial offside decision to get the bosses moaning.
Recently, Mick McCarthy was angered by a goal his Wolves side conceded against Manchester City. His ire was directed towards a linesman who failed to raise his flag against Craig Bellamy in the build-up to a Javier Garrido freekick.
Bellamy was in an offside position at one point, but such are the complexities of the law he was adjudged to be inactive and so the flag stayed down. When the ball did come to Bellamy, he was onside. It is not hard to see why McCarthy was so disgruntled and he deserves our sympathy in this instance.
However, the linesman was simply applying the laws of the game, so the fault lies with FIFA. Football's governing body have decreed that a player is to be considered 'active' if he touches the ball, interferes with an opponent or gains an advantage from a ball rebounding off the woodwork while he is in an offside position.
Bellamy was, according to the laws, not interfering with play but his presence forced a defender to make a clearance he could otherwise have left. Surely defenders can't be expected to leave the ball alone in the hope the linesman will raise his flag?
If City score a similar goal against Manchester United when the two clubs face each other in the Carling Cup bet on a furious reaction from Sir Alex.
The law needs looking at again, as Spurs legend Bill Nicholson once said: "If he's not interfering with play, what's he doing on the pitch?"
If things don't change then it's more than likely we will see a big match like the UEFA Cup final being decided by a highly controversial goal, and surely FIFA don't want that?
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