Controversial offside rule: Needs a change?

Recently, the footballing world has given into technology, the goal line change being the most recent memory. One could say it was Lampard’s ghost goal that bounced a kilometere inside but wasn’t given, that brought about the change.

http://youtu.be/JQ6gjtf8HVU

However, ther are many more issues that maybe need more assistance than just the naked eye. Yesterday’s premier league fixture between Newcastle and Man City may have just raised the question on the offside rule. With Manchester City in the lead, the game was still evenly poised and Newcastle showed every possibility of making it even with numerous chances. At one point, after Check Tiote’s belter into the corner of the net, the crowd went ballistic, the players celebrated and it looked like we had a game on our hands until the referee decided to spoil the party. Even though the linesman spotted nothing wrong, the referee decided to make an offside call. The problem being the ball went through the City defense and almost touched a newcastle player, and went in.

http://youtu.be/zvmB7ZF-oL8

People who have been following the sport for some time are aware of these conditions in the rule:1) Incase a player is offside but decides to not play a part in the move, he can choose to not touch the ball or move away, more oftenly done with his hands in the air implying no action from his side2) Incase he does not play a part in the move or touch the ball, but obstructs the opposition keeper or players i.e if he makes his presence felt, the linesman could call it offside as he is supposed to make himself feel invisible in that position

However after yesterday’s situation, these dont seem to be the only conditions as the keeper was nowhere near the player, nor did the player obstruct his view or deflect the ball in. The world is still baffled as to why that was given offside and the questions are being raised on the clarity of the rule.

After all the commotion that occurred, one thinks is the offside rule alright the way it is? Is there any scope for refinement?A few solutions one would think is to use the television replay mechanism to determine whether the offside decision was deemed fair enough or not. While this would slow down the game a little, it could help make the game a more enjoyable one. Just for the sake of having a quick game, would you rather have an unfair one? Maybe to make this amendment a little more strict, this replay system could be applied only to balls that have gone into the net and not for general offsides, as anyway the game would have stopped and the referee could come to a decision quickly after having a word through the microphone with an official.The other alternate solution is to deem any player ahead of the defenders line offside, irrespective of him playing a part in the move or not. However this would be terribly unfair which would leave us just with the first solution. Another tried and tested method is we could have an official posted near the goal as there used to be earlier before goal line technology. However we have seen that fail many a time, and this situation being even more complicated, chances of it working are even lesser.

Maybe if a player is through on goal, and he has been given offside, one could still digest it reluctantly as there could have been a chance that he would have not scored had he been allowed to play on. However, in case the ball is in the net, it definitely needs to be reviewed as it could be a match changing decision, not only score wise but psychologically as well.A team which is losing a game and then has a goal disallowed automatically gets a little demotivated and loses a little venom on the attack.While people may think the solution of TV replays as suggested may dampen the intensity of the game with a pause, don’t injuries cause delay as well? Sometimes we have injury breaks as long as 10 minutes, can’t we spare a few seconds to ensure a deserving team doesn’t lose out because of a pathetic decision?

Having such misjudgements made in the premier leagues is still not the worst that can happen, as teams have the opportunity to catch up in the remainder of the games, but what about knockout tournaments? The FA Cup? The Champions League? And the worst of all, what if it happens in the world cup?

Say it is the final of the world cup, and a team is disallowed a valid goal and ultimately they go on to lose in penalties. Would fans around the world appreciate the result? How would the players feel after the 4 years of hard work they have put in?It would be a shame to the footballing world and would be a final the people would want to forget.

The major issue with the current offside rule is such that you can have an end number of contradicting explanations for the same situation. Blaming referees is not the real solution as it is the rule itself that needs to be redefined to help the officials out. While there are a lot more problems the sport needs to address, this seems to be one that needs a quick look into.Lets hope this plea doesn’t fall on deaf ears.