A radical change to the Offside Law for the amateur game

Game 31, 2019-20

For amateur games where there are no neutral and qualified linesmen/assistant referees, I propose that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) add the following clauses to Law 11, Offside:

* Any team that attempts to influence the referee's decision by appealing for offside, either verbally or through gestures such as raising an arm, automatically renders the opposing player in an onside position. In this way, the unsportsmanlike conduct of the defending team directly benefits the attacking team.

* All attempts to influence the referee's decision with regard to offside decisions shall be classified as unsporting conduct, and be punishable with a caution (or a ten-minute time penalty in leagues that operate sin-bins).

* Any protest from an attacking player deemed by the referee to be in an offside position will likewise be punishable with a caution. 

This would be a radical change to the law, but it would make an immense difference to refereeing at the lowest levels of the game, where there is a serious lack of the necessary three match officials for the following two reasons: 

- an increase in the verbal and physical abuse of referees, leading to a drastic fall in recruitment numbers

- the clubs themselves are not willing to pay for qualified ARs

Therefore the clubs and players who have a direct influence on the number of available officials can not complain about such a law change. They've brought it on themselves. Which brings me to last night's game, a classic example of players from both teams constantly leaning on me to give (or not give) offside decisions in their favour. 

It was a friendly between a Level 8 team (a league without ARs) and a Level 7 team (a league with ARs). The former team should be used to playing without ARs, and behave accordingly. The latter can perhaps be given some leeway, as they would normally expect a linesman to be making the calls, but should still have been aware of the (for them) exceptional situation and granted me some leeway.

It's worth reiterating that a centre referee without ARs can only do his or her best to make a judgment call without being in line with play. You have to be looking in two directions at once - at the player with the ball, and at the last line of defence. In most cases, this is a physical impossibility. If the player with the ball is not being challenged by an opponent, it's much easier - you can already anticipate when they will pass and turn your head in the direction of the back line just as their foot is about to make contact with the ball. If they're being pressured, though, you have to focus on the player with the ball in case of an illegal challenge. In narrow situations, I lean towards giving the benefit of the doubt towards the attacking team, no matter how many lumpen centre halves raise their arms and yell, "Offside!"

At times, there's a whole dialogue going on out there. Defenders are loudly yelling for offside, opponents are shouting back, "Never! Never!" Most of the time, they haven't a clue. Defenders are hoping I'm going to bail them out for their lack of speed and dodgy positional play, attackers of course want me to believe that their through-pass was perfectly timed. In the end, at least one party is going to be unhappy, and they will always let me know about it. Offside is the mother of amateur football's perpetual frustration.

At one point in the second half, I'm perfectly in line with the away team's defending line when the home team's number 24 receives the ball in an offside position. When I blow the whistle, he screams in my face, "What?!?" I show him the yellow card, in line with the new German FA guidelines on dissent. He's baffled by this. "But I only asked What?" he says. "I didn't insult you." Gee, thanks. And by the way, insulting me would have been a straight red.

When shite teams started playing the offside trap in the 1970s, it was considered a tactical development. What a beautiful sight it was - four line-dancing, mud-spattered heifers moving forward as one, their arms in the air, negating entertainment and emptying stadiums. IFAB could have snuffed it out back then already by classifying such shenanigans as unsporting behaviour (and I'd love to hear anyone argue that this is not unsporting behaviour). It's thankfully no longer prevalent in the professional game, and VARs have rendered dissent on the matter almost obsolete at the top level (aside from the ludicrous micro-decisions made by computer - but that's another issue).

At the game's arse-end, however, we still have to put up with its inharmonious legacy. For the sake of peace and more advantage to the attacking team, we should at least experiment with the suggested law changes above.

As we come off the field, I explain to the number 24 why I showed him the yellow card. "All I did was ask," he reiterates. "Yes," I say, "and you did it in such a mild and polite fashion." We both laugh, and then embrace. I wish more games would end that way.

Final score: 5-3 (4 x yellow)

Want to read more? Click here to order Reffing Hell: Stuck In The Middle Of A Game Gone Wrong by Ian Plenderleith (Halcyon Publishing), published on August 8, 2022.