Offside; A response

In response to Offside confusion, an article published earlier this week, we got a great response from an oil rig in the Philippines, Malaysia, Kazakhstan or somewhere that Dave Hanson is currently working.

It's in layman terms for the uninitiated, simple, or Man City/Chelsea fans (all of whom must be new as they had no-one before the money showed up!).

Thanks Dave - simplified it for a lot of us

(initially written to explain to women, but works for all criteria):

You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue (line) for the till (register). 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!


*added in some American explanations!

Just to add a little more confusion to the offside rule

Was he in line when the ball was played?

Goal line technology may be on people's minds, but debate on the offside rule rages on

With some new changes to the offside rules coming in this season, there could be even more confusion (and hence more heated debates among geezers). FIFA has slightly changed the wording of the 'Interfering' section of Law 11, as well as the 'Gaining an Advantage' section.

I used to think that people were just not making any effort to understand what is a relatively simple rule, but now I'm a little perplexed myself. Is the player coming back from an offside position? Are they interfering? Is there daylight? Was his left ankle offside when the ball was played?

Here's FIFA's PDF on the definition of offside.

Gone are the days of sitting around with the ketchup bottle, salt shaker and HP sauce - no one really knows the rules anymore, including referees. It's been made far too complicated and I think it's the inconsistency of the decisions that infuriates players, managers and fans. It's easy to tell when Pippo Inzaghi is offside (the answer is 'always'), but how the assistant referees (linesmen) can make that call in a split second is beyond me.