The Flawed Offside Rule

'In preparation for the World Cup, the "offside rule" explained for women:
You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have.
The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire. Both of you have forgotten your purses.
It would be rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes.
The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.
Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma.
She prepares to throw her purse to you.
If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes!
At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and "whilst it is in flight" you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes!
BUT, you must always remember that until the purse has "actually been thrown", it would be plain wrong for you to be in front of the other shopper and you would be OFFSIDE!'


It has long been held a joke that women do not understand the offside rule. But now I would ask, who actually does?

With all the changes in recent years, such as an attacker who is level with the defender now being onside, then daylight having to be between the attacker and defender, then a part of the body that can legally play the ball of the attacker being ahead of the defender, and now players having to be deemed to be 'interfering with play.'

Who actually knows the rule today? The problem is, it is all down to individual interpretation, and this was portrayed perfectly with Man United's goal against Birmingham in the 1-1 on the 09/01/10. Manchester United's full-back Patrice Evra crossed the ball in and the Birmingham centre-half Scott Dann slid in to block the cross and deflected the ball into his own not. Wayne Rooney was offside (although admittidley marginal), the linesman had his flag up and after some consultation with the referee, decided to allow the goal as it was an own goal. The commentators agreed this was a correct decision, and Alex Ferguson even mocked the referee after the game for the linesman having his flag up when it was an own-goal.

However in my opinion, this goal should have been scratched off and deemed off-side. But how? You may well ask, it was an own goal? Well in my opinion although Rooney did not touch the ball and interfere with play directly, his positioning nonetheless had an impact on the defenders decision to slide in the stop the cross. Would he have done that knowing that there was no Manchester United players behind him? No he wouldn't have, so by that reckoning Rooney was interfering with play thus was offside. (Make your own mind up http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/4419263/)

You may well believe that my take on the goal is wrong, but my point is that there is no rule in football to prove me wrong and make the linesmans job a hell of a lot easier. One mans offside, is another man's onside. I think its about time we got back to basics, and cut the referees and linesman who have the hardest job in football, some slack!

That includes you Fergie...