Offside is Offside

Everyone moans when an attacker’s toe is beyond the last defender – why can’t football fans just accept that offside is offside.

If you think the endless talk about Coronavirus, roadmaps and infection rates is boring, try being an advocate of VAR and watching Match of the Day every Saturday. At the moment, it is impossible to go a single matchday without offside VAR controversy – and what for?

Photo Credit: bbc.co.uk

The often-over-explained rule of offside has been pathetically used to mock those with a lesser knowledge of football for years, but really, IT IS simple. There are numerous offside scenarios, but the ones which VAR mostly look at is when any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent – and that’s straight from the horse’s mouth… well, the FA’s website.

Whilst it is impossible to spot these infringements of a millimetre with the naked eye, why do football fans have such a problem with this? At the beginning of the 2013/14 premier league season, goal line technology was introduced. A hawk-eye system which would assess if the ball had crossed the line and inform the referee via his watch – right down to the same minimalistic measurements that are used by VAR at Stockley Park. The Brits may have welcomed the introduction of goal line technology as they were still sore, having not forgotten Frank Lampard’s ghost goal against Germany in the 2010 World Cup, but goal line technology wasn’t without its own teething problems. Viewers were left laughing during the 2014 World Cup as broadcasters showed replays of shots which were both miles over the line, as well as not even in contention to be a goal. If this was so easily laughed off, why can’t we allow VAR its own teething problems?

It has to be said that the lack of communication between fans and officials is a problem in the modern game. As football fans, we look at sports such as rugby and cricket and question why we can’t have the same clarity from officials in the beautiful game. When it takes three minutes for an official at Stockley Park to draw a line down from a player’s shoulder to the floor, I can understand frustration, but frustration at the final decision is nothing shy of ludicrous. These lines are not interpretations of a rule, they are mathematical and factual. Why this is so hard for some fans to grasp is beyond me.

It is true to say that if we had VAR checking offsides years ago, the history of football would be entirely different to what we know today. However, the same can be argued for goal line technology. Whilst England may have progressed past Germany if Lampard’s equaliser had stood, the three Lions’ goal from Geoff Hurst in the 1966 World Cup would never have stood with the hawk-eye system we are used to today. And it’s not just offsides that VAR checks. We should welcome its intrusion when looking at handballs, for example. The Hand of God would still just be a phrase coined by Christians if we had VAR in 1986, and more recently Thierry Henry wouldn’t have been able to cheat Ireland out of World Cup qualification in 2009. The game moves on, so why can’t we?

With the debate never ending, Arsène Wenger has his own take on what should and shouldn’t be offside. (Don’t we all!) The Arsenal legend, often dubbed ‘The Professor’, believes that a player should only be deemed offside if any part of the body with which the attacker can score a goal is past the last defender. The Gunners’ ex-boss’ lightbulb moment is being trialled in the lower division of China as of next season, but it won’t stop lines being drawn from a player’s shoulder to the floor – thanks, Balotelli.

Maybe because I wasn’t brough up watching football in the 80’s, I don’t long for the game which is supposedly ‘gone’. I’m not saying the way VAR is conducted is perfect, but offside is offside. I’ve been in the crowd when fans cheer a goal against them being disallowed and an argument from anyone with these double standards is null and void. It’s about time we all started getting used to VAR calling offsides correctly, whether by one millimetre or one meter. With young players such as Kylian Mbappé and Erling Braut Haaland upping the tempo of the game year on year, why are we so determined to stick to the decision of a middle-aged man on the touchline anyway?