Forum | Been saying this ever since the ridiculous new offside guidance came in... by ITFC_Forever (2025)

She should’ve put the flag up straight away in this instance anyway, clearly offside and so far away from the goal.

I can understand it when it’s a few yards from the goal and the ball goes in the net, that’s fair enough, but instances like this are just silly.

The lawmakers can't continue to take this contrary position. You can't claim to protect players and then put them at risk in this way. It's nonsense.

Lino’s should still be able to do their job and not delegate it completely to the VAR. If they gave the attacking side the benefit of the doubt but flagged if they were clear, I doubt there’d be that many wrong decisions. At least it would stop all this nonsense of playing on when everyone else in the ground knows it’s offside.

We all moan when a big chance is pulled back for what transpires to be a wrong call of offside. This rule gives the best of both worlds.

Clearly offside on a still frame, but have you tried running a line cross-eyed with one eye looking down the line of the last defender and the other looking at when the ball is kicked, all at the pace of the Premier League. I know it's their job, but not easy.

[Post edited 14 May 19:26]

If it’s clear and obvious- daylight between defending and attacking players - then their flags should go up straight away. I can fully understand keeping the flag down when more contentious.

Exactly. Obviously the debate over VAR is another issue but in a world where it exists then the flagging rule has to also exist otherwise the entire point of it is defeated.

[Post edited 14 May 19:42]

It's actually physically impossible. Imagine a situation where she had flagged and it proved after that he was onside after all.

The real issue is with the medical staff who said he was OK to continue playing. That was a terrible call from them.

And reduce the pitch to 45 feet long?

Good maffs.

Id imagine its very difficult to identify intestinal ruptures, on a football pitch

you cant go down that path imo, youre effectively saying it would be ok to be seriously injured on the pitch, as long as it was a valid onside phase of play

players risk all kinds of injuries in the game all the time in all phases of play, you cant second guess stuff like that, peoples have been knocked out colliding with the post, breaking their legs in last ditch clearances/tackles.

its a risk, fortunately a rare one, but a risk none the less. Lets put more focus into hoping Taiwo recovers than debating if offside rules are wrong.

I don't dispute any of that. However there is a direct contradiction between making player safety the officials' priority and then exacerbating the risk to players simply because of an officiating methodology at the highest level. The risk doesn't exist at levels that don't use VAR so players aren't being treated equally either.

Perhaps I'm being pedantic but the two positions don't sit well with me at all.

Edit: This article seems to agree
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/may/14/awoniyis-injury-should-lead-to-

[Post edited 15 May 7:37]

If offside decisions are automated, it needs to be an instant decision which is communicated to players and fans straight away.

There's always one isn't there...

I know I've tried it! Even in that lower league playoff match the other day where the assistant ref was pilloried for flagging offside for a player several yards past the last defender - there's no way the assistant ref thought the player was not past the last defender, but the flick-on from the striker was quite subtle and certainly tricky to see both things at the same time. The assistant ref clearly hadn't seen the flick-on out of the corner of his eye, which is understandable.

Experts in the medical field have stated that an early diagnosis would not have been possible, symptoms develop later and require a scan. Having said that, given the mechanics of the injury, it might have been prudent to substitute him - of course we don't know what pressure is on the medical staff in regard to these decisions.

Serious injury and death can be terrible but they are a consequence of living.

Accidents happen when life goes on. What's the solution - delay kick-off to the end of the match and thus eliminate risk of serious injury completely?