Two things: Wouldn't it be sensible to add in a tolerance of six inches, maybe a foot, on offside? During this Women's World Cup we've seen several goals disallowed when strikers were a couple of inches offside. To me that is level within the spirit of the rules. It always used to be benefit of doubt to the attacker. If an attacker is leaning in more than the defender, has a longer nose or has a more billowing shirt then it seems they are currently offside. It's getting silly. Does anyone know if there is a limitation as to how far back they can look with VAR? During this World Cup we've seen goals disallowed and penalties not given because a foul was committed at the other end of the pitch maybe 30 seconds previously. Surely there comes a time when the officials have to say it was play on and the incident didn't directly affect the issue under consideration. If not, there is always going to be some foul that wasn't spotted they can go back to. It would pay to be not given a free kick, just so any subsequent goals can be chalked off!
Something definitely has to be done about the marginal offside calls, as it's getting farcical. Ellen White and Jesse Lingard's goals should never have been chalked off. When the two centimetres clearly made no practical difference, the goal should stand. VAR is supposed to clear up obvious errors, not judge someone to be offside by a hair's breadth. Now that we have such accurate technology, the rules need to be adapted slightly to compensate. Maybe the whole body should be offside for it to count? Or at least the leading foot must be fully offside,otherwise the goal stands.
Its stupid. Maybe like cricket each side gets one review, close offside becomes umpires call ie. Whatever the ref had first decided. Hate VAR it spoils watching footy on the telly, never mind being there in person.
The whole of the ball has to be over the line for a throw/corner etc. to be given, if the ‘whole’ of the player had to be offside this would make it easier and quicker to call.
I disagree I think Var should only be used for binary decisions like offside and goal line You’re either offside or you are not - I think computers should decide offside decisions and not humans Either that or just do away with the offside rule - it is a bit pointless ...
You have to draw the line somewhere. If you say 6 inches then the same complaints would happen if the player was 6.01 inches offside. You're either offside or you aren't. For me it's one of the situations in where VAR actually works well. Last season several goals will have been ruled out incorrectly when a player was definitely onside and vice versa. This would no longer happen.
I would go for 'clear air' (whole of body gap between defender and attacker (i.e.approx half a metre). If a defender is doing his job then he should still be able to get tackle in or keep pace with the attacking player whilst within 'contact range'. Obviously more than a couple of feet 'start' gives the attacker an unfair advantage. The current 'fine margins' are impossible for linesmen and referees to judge in real time hence VAR being called on too often. and penalise an attacker with pace/nous who can react quicker and/or outrun the defender. It should be obvious in real time when a player breaches the offside rule
Simple answer, make the linesman make a decision and then check if he has made “an obvious error” if the margin is so small he was guessing then let it go with his decision. Cricket have it squared away I think VAR is perfect for binary decisions but much of the referees work is opinion based
Another point. One way to speed up the game would be that for an offside infringment, the linesman raises his flag and keeps it raised. He then continues to keep up with play which continues. If the current phase of play results in any advantage to the attacking side e.g. corner, foul by defender) goal before possession is regained by the defending team then the offside free kick is awarded. Otherwise the linesman then lowers his flag and play contimues. Sounds radical but why should it not work?
I agree that VAR is better for binary decisions but another issue is it takes far too long. If it's going to be used for offside we need sensors in players' boots and the ball with software designed to give near instant feedback. I'd also have someone monitoring for diving and violent play, but the referee would only be alerted at the next break in play, with either offence being a straight red
I remember back in the 80s and 90s, when football was rubbish, our biggest complaint was that the game flowed far too freely. We were desperate for the referee to stop play and leave the field to watch some tele, but it never happened. Fortunately that's been rectified. And all those goals we celebrated was so boring. What the game was crying out for was most of them to be ruled out because one player accidently touched another 20 minutes earlier. So now we've sorted out the officiating to make it a much more enjoyable, fast paced, free flowing spectacle, we need to do something about the players. Some of them are still making mistakes. We need robot players who never give it away and never foul. They'll pass to each other until they score then the other side will do the same. It'll be brilliant. And we can have robot crowds who always sing and never criticise. VAR can be used to make sure none of us ever leave the house.