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Rule change not ruled out
Monday 20th October 2008, 11:36AM BST.
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.”
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What about the goal that big chris scored,i didnt see coleman moaning about that one as he was clearly onside
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1 Was just going to bring that one up.
MM was scathing after the match about Keough getting booed where i was sitting i didn’t here no booing, a large applause when he was replaced.
Did anyone here it?
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Just right Jon – Chris’s goal was definitely onside so the point of the article is moot in my opinion. Coleman just loves a moan though, doesn’t he?
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100% agree with number 1. If Ebanks-Blake’s goal wasnt a goal, then big Chris’ definitely was a goal. Both incidents cancel each other out at the end of the day.
Regardless of what happened, some managers just like to have a good old moan. You lost the game, Mr Coleman. A lot more managers will suffer the same fate against us this season.
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The ref interprets the rules as he sees them during the game.
We are constantly hearing players and managers being told not to question their decisions.
I for one believe the ref got this one wrong at the time. He also in my opinion got big Chris’s (goal) decision wrong the only good thing was his mistakes did not alter the eventual outcome of Wolves getting (luckily) the three points.
A rule change might be the best outcome.
Up The Wolves
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Looking at the goal I think the keeper parried the ball before SEB came in to play. Does that justify him not being offside? Ahhh well let them debate it, we got 3 points and are top of the league. Nuff said!
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Dry your eyes Coleman
It’s a funny old game
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keogh didnt get but but i have to say he would have no reason to argue if he did he was poor all game and he didnt get booded it was just a big ironic cheer from the southbank when he came off.
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Didn’t realise we had a Premiership ref.
Wonder why he got dropped to the Championship?
Think he’ll be in League 1 next week.
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Kites should have scored anyway with original shot
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SEB’s goal brings to my mind a comparison with a forward, at a free-kick, deliberately standing in an offside position before running back before the kick is taken so that he is onside when he makes contact with the ball. You see this often, and it is allowed, so what’s the difference?
Also, the ball came to SEB off their goalkeeper, so wasn’t he “played onside” anyway?
I also agree with Cornish’s observation about
players and managers having “respect” (I think it’s called) for the officials and their decisions – so much for you, Coleman.
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Who cares about the offside rule, Collins was shocking and needs to be replaced.
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1 Jon – Spot on mate!!
There can’t be many other worse combinations than a Coventry fan whinging and a Welshman to boot!!!
Bring on Delia and her Canaries!!!!!
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Yes Chris Coleman was right to complain about this gal but rather conveniantly did not mention Iwelumo’s perfectly good goal that was disallowed.
I thought Coventry got away with a few bad challenges. We needed pyscho Downing in there with Muscat and Elokobi to give a bit back!
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Pembrokeshire Wolf said: Also, the ball came to SEB off their goalkeeper, so wasn’t he “played onside” anyway? NO because it is from when the original shot was taken, parries, deflections make no difference
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Linesman had a mare as usual! Chris scored a perfectly legit goal but it was rule out because the lino ballsed it up with SEB,s goal!
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I think when they look at the match in this meeting they need to observe what a crap job he did in the first place, and think coventry were lucky to keep 11 men on the field they got away with god knows how many tackles from behind, he booked foley for getting clattered and only gave eastwoood a yellow for the elbow the stearman. But Coleman failed to say anything about that. On a good note Ikeme was brilliant and for a second thought it was Murry playing.
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1) Yeah Iwelumo’s denied goal cancels out any controversy towards us. He was clearly onside.
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It’s all sour grapes if you ask me. Coleman will surely get one in his favour very shortly so lets see what he has to say then. I only get to listen to the match commentary on Wolves World and it made for a great afternoons entertainment. Keep it up lads. UP THE WOLVES.
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BobWolf I hand it to you,, your regular bashing of collins is a tad boring but obsessive. But again I am sure you love him really….
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Logic says he is Offside-But logic does not apply-Chris’s goal was not offside -if he had ruled out the first-Logic says he would have allowed the second-But thats Ref’s logic-and sometimes the rules are not interpreted as logic–Get my meaning folks–We won lets move on–Crazey Dave
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I don’t pretend to understand the off side law but I noticed one thing. A Cov player did exactly the same as Sylvan but where as our man kept watching and poached a goal, their guy turned away, dramatically holding his head and missed the chance to score. Perhaps Coleman should look at that rather then bleating about the ref.
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Difficult one this as I don’t think the scenario is actually defined in the 16 laws of the game. I could be wrong about 16 laws but it was when I did my referee course years ago. That is the problem though not all scenarios are actually defined and sometimes at referees seminars they give actual instances where you have to give your decision and why. If you look at Saturday’s goal technically you will see that when Kightly hit the shot, SEB was still off the pitch and also when the GK had his touch, so it could be argued that SEB was actually played on by the touch of the GK. Actually I agree with Coleman if you are offside you are offside, non of this stupid active/inactive rule which just introduced a headache for referees and coaches. Danny Blanchflower summed it up with “if you are not interferring with play you should not be on the pitch in the first place”. I think the officials knew they had got it wrong hence why they disallowed the perfectly legal Iwelumo goal later.
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I have just been on the Coventry Banter of the Coventry Telegraph and Andy Turner said:
“There’s no getting away from it, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was off-side when he scored the winner for Wolves on Saturday.
“Referee Steve Bennett’s explanation that the striker’s momentum had taken him off the pitch and therefore he didn’t have to ask permission to go back on doesn’t address the salient question, which was whether he was then off-side or not.
“The fact is that when he re-entered the field of play, or sneaked back on to be more accurate, he was off-side, no question, and Mr Bennett and his assistant Ian Gosling, who failed to flag for the offence, got it wrong.
“There is nothing Coventry can do about it now, of course, and they have to live with the fact that they were denied a point from the game, but there must be some clarification on the matter to ensure it doesn’t happen again”.
I am surprised by these comments and even more surprised that like Chris Coleman he didn`t mention the goal scored by Chris Iwelumo and was flaged for offside by the assistant when TV clips showed it was a very legitimate goal. And Wolves could do nothing about it to have put the game beyond reach of Coventry or at least if Sylvan`s goal was disallowed.
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clearly onside
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If the so called “experts” watch the goal again I think you will see that SEB didn’t even touch the ball. The last touch came off their keepers hand. Look closely.
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WHAT ABOUT IWELUMO’S GOAL!! OK, Coleman is ‘fuming’ about the decision and I think it should have been offside tbh, but he doesn’t mention the fact that a perfectly good goal was disallowed because the linesman is trying to make up for a mistake. Every week there are wrong decisions. When are they going to brng in TV replays?!
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what does andy turner think about chrisses perfect goal.
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Spot on number 1 – Did anyone hear any Wolves player or manager moaning about that much more clearer blunder. Defined by television camera’s as well I think Lino got that well wrong. Lets harp on about it shall we, it could cost us on goal difference later on in the season whereas Blakey’s goal was not clearly defined because when he came back on the pitch it was unclear whether or not at that point Westwood had already parried the ball in a forward motion or even saved it meaning he was not off-side anyway – so there Coleman, benefit of the doubt to the striker full stop.
And Iwelumo’s goal was legitimate, the officials had a bad day except for Blakey’s goal. That decision was correct
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scenario, goalkeeper picks up ball, lays it back down and a player fromopposing team runs behind nips ball away and scores. What is the difference to blakes goal? Also MM comments onother chat about not coming for him if booing Keogh. d ONT THINK MANY SUPPORTERS TURN UP FOR mANAGERS THEY TURN UP FOR TEAM. Endof day we put in a good performance againt csoventry, yet you cannot gt away tht Caolleins and Keough are the weakness in a vey grood team. To be fare it would not have been too obvious compared to crap we have endured over the past 5 seasons but we are moving on.
Up the Wolves
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The game would have been different if SEB’s goal had been disallowed so shut up about Iwelumo’s goal. You won yeah & you know you were lucky. We were the better team. Fair play to you for being top of the league but enjoy it while it last.
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There should be no controversy at all. SEB’s momentum carried him off the pitch so he did not need the referee’s permission. A player off the pitch can not be off-side. The keeper then played the ball so when SEB came back onto the pitch HE WAS NOT IN AN OFF_SIDE POSITION.You can only be offside if you are in front of the ball when it is played by one of your team. Steve Bennet got it absolutely spot on
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Are the FA going to make us replay the game or something? If it was Manure, and they had lost, they would insist (and win) that it was played again.
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9. He referreed us in the playoff final. Didn’t do too bad there, did he?
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Top of the table big Mick must be doing something right.But then some wolves fans are never satisfied. First we had Mick the muppett then an attack on Eastwood, Coleman,Collins,Keogh and Ward all decent men endeavouring to earn a living.Lets face it lads you were a bit fortuitous on Sat. having been played off the park at times and should have gone in three down at the interval, but for some inspired goalkeeping.It is no use saying it was a below par display by wolves they only played as well as they were allowed.If you haven’t got the ball you can’t score.I agree Coventry were lucky with the “offside” goal but don’t forget had the other “offside” goal been rightly disallowed the whole pattern of play would have changed and either side could have gone on to win Bill Coventry
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Top of the table big Mick must be doing something right.But then some wolves fans are never satisfied.First we had “the muppett” then attacks on Eastwood,Coleman,Keegh,Ward and Collins, all decent men trying to earn a living.I agree that City were lucky with the “offside”goal being disallowed but then had the other “offside” goal been rightly disallowed then the pattern of play would have changed and either side could have gone on to win.Lads you would do well to remember that wolves were played off the park at times on Sat. and could have been three down at the interval but for some inspired goalkeeping.. Bill Coventry
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as a referee myself, i understand that the correct interpretation of the rule is that SEB left the pitch accidentally through the momentum of reaching for the ball so was not in an offside position when a wolves player played the ball forward, he came back onto the pitch AFTER the coventry keeper had touched the ball so was not deemed to be offside for that reason because an opposing player was last to play the ball. I fully agree that the rule needs to be changed because an advantage was gained by him leaving the pitch, thats me speaking as a ref, but as a wolves fan…..3 POINTS IN THE BAG!!!!!!!!
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If the goal keep parried it whilst SEB was off the pitch, how can he be offside????
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Not true no.37 Paul Rejer who is full time manager of assistant referees for Premier league and football league was at the game on Sat.as an advisor to referee Steve Bennett states that assistant Ian Gosling got it wrong and should have flagged for offside.It does illustrate what a difficult time officials are having Bill Coventry
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Excellent! A real life “You Are The Ref”!
39. I don’t think the lino could have called it any different. At what point was SEB offside exactly? When it was last played forward by one of his own team, he was off the pitch therefore not offside. That concludes the debate, surely?
If he had sneaked off the pitch in order to gain an advantage and then sneaked back on you could do him for unsporting behaviour but that wasn’t the case.
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The Logic continues-We are top of the LEAGUE lets go to Norwich in a positive frame–Wolves 3-1–He was offside guys but Christmas is coming we want our prese’s early–Crazey Dave–PUT THIS ONE TO BED PLEASE E&S–Crazey Dave
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Sorry Booster I am just quoting an official of high standing, since confirmed by Dermot Gallagher. Me I am just someone who has watched professional football since 1951 and when I pay good money I like to see both teams. However good luck to both City and Wolves tonight I believe they are both good enough to go up BIll
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