At Reading Football Club’s home match against promotion seeking Watford last weekend there was one incident, a denied goal for Watford, that puzzled the home fans as much as the visiting supporters.
It came at a significant time of the match. Watford had seemingly scored a goal that would put them 3-1 ahead in the match.
After the usual celebrations had taken place both on the pitch and on the filled terrace of away supporters, there came a hush around the stadium as the referee walked over to talk to his assistant referee.
This is unusual these days, because the referee and his assistants are wired up so they can speak to each other at any time during the match, with no need to converse at close range.
It was obvious however that the referee wanted some detailed clarification from his assistant.
The television coverage of the match showed what had caused this unusual action. The Reading goalkeeper has stretched out his hand to stop the ball, which had been played by a Watford player, but only succeeded in parrying it into the goal.
But the television cameras also showed that there was a Watford player in an offside position, standing a little way in front of the Reading goalkeeper, perhaps preventing him from seeing the ball until the last minute accounting probably for his late attempt to save it.
The Laws of the Game have been clear on this for many years. It is an offside offence if a player becomes involved in active play by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision.
This can be a most difficult decision for match officials because the assistant referee can see that the player is in an offside position, but not from his viewpoint, if he is obstructing an opponent’s line of vision.
The referee can see that, but not whether the player concerned is offside, which is probably why the referee at the Reading/Watford match wanted to be clear before making his decision.
There are some critics of this Law and comments have been made recently saying that goalkeepers often get the view blocked by their own defenders and like all other defenders, goalkeepers need to position themselves so the opponents have less chance of scoring.
If this negative ruling was removed, say its detractors, it would see many more goals being scored.
Reading players and fans are glad that it still exists.
By Dick Sawdon Smith
