Post by nuneatonskyblue on Oct 20, 2008 17:23:09 GMT
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s controversial goal for Wolves on Saturday could trigger a change in the offside rule.
The striker netted the winner in the 2-1 victory over Coventry after coming back on the pitch in an apparent offside position, after Sky Blues keeper Keiren Westwood had parried Michael Kightly’s shot.
The Referees’ Association meets tomorrow and it is understood the offside rule is on their agenda after Ebanks-Blake’s strike.
There is a general feeling among the refereeing elite that official Steve Bennett made a mistake at Molineux and there is a need to clarify the rule or change it completely, meaning Ebanks-Blake’s goal could be a watershed for English football.
Coventry boss Chris Coleman was furious over the goal.
He complained: “The referee is saying the momentum takes Ebanks-Blake off the pitch so when he reenters he is not offside. If he is offside then he is offside - end of story.
“He comes on behind our defender and nods the ball in the back of the net. If he comes back onto the pitch then he has surely got to come back on in an onside position.
“Whoever made the rule up has got it wrong.”
Even Wolves manager Mick McCarthy admitted: “Maybe we had a bit of good fortune with that.”
Wolverhampton’s 1974 World Cup final referee Jack Taylor believes the rule needs to be clarified, because it is now too complicated.
He said: “It is getting greyer and greyer week in week out. Referee’s jobs have become more and more complicated and managers are bemused by it.
“At the meetings at the start of the season the managers always ask the questions, because it is ambiguous.”
Taylor has sympathy with today’s officials and feels they have a difficult time with the complex nature of the game.
He said: “There was some logic that when one was interfering with play he was offside. Now the officials are told that if the man is not in possession of the ball, he is not interfering with play.”
The striker netted the winner in the 2-1 victory over Coventry after coming back on the pitch in an apparent offside position, after Sky Blues keeper Keiren Westwood had parried Michael Kightly’s shot.
The Referees’ Association meets tomorrow and it is understood the offside rule is on their agenda after Ebanks-Blake’s strike.
There is a general feeling among the refereeing elite that official Steve Bennett made a mistake at Molineux and there is a need to clarify the rule or change it completely, meaning Ebanks-Blake’s goal could be a watershed for English football.
Coventry boss Chris Coleman was furious over the goal.
He complained: “The referee is saying the momentum takes Ebanks-Blake off the pitch so when he reenters he is not offside. If he is offside then he is offside - end of story.
“He comes on behind our defender and nods the ball in the back of the net. If he comes back onto the pitch then he has surely got to come back on in an onside position.
“Whoever made the rule up has got it wrong.”
Even Wolves manager Mick McCarthy admitted: “Maybe we had a bit of good fortune with that.”
Wolverhampton’s 1974 World Cup final referee Jack Taylor believes the rule needs to be clarified, because it is now too complicated.
He said: “It is getting greyer and greyer week in week out. Referee’s jobs have become more and more complicated and managers are bemused by it.
“At the meetings at the start of the season the managers always ask the questions, because it is ambiguous.”
Taylor has sympathy with today’s officials and feels they have a difficult time with the complex nature of the game.
He said: “There was some logic that when one was interfering with play he was offside. Now the officials are told that if the man is not in possession of the ball, he is not interfering with play.”