Soccer offside rule ‘clarified’
EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 3, (AP): Football’s rule-makers have sought to clarify one of the game’s most misinterpreted laws - offside — in a bid to reduce widespread uncertainty for referees, players and fans.
In a change to take effect from July 1, the International Football Association Board decided on Saturday to clear up when exactly attackers are influencing play.
The change states that an attacker should be considered offside when “gaining an advantage by being in that position” in situations that will now include receiving the ball from a rebound or deflection from the goal frame or a player in the defending team attempting a tackle, block or save.
IFAB, which comprises officials from FIFA and the four British football associations, also attempted to safeguard its future by opening up its decision-making process.
With the organization of world football undergoing an overhaul under the wake of a series of corruption scandals, there were calls for the British to cede their influence on IFAB, which has been meeting since 1886.
But at the annual IFAB meeting in Edinburgh, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said “this institution will go on.”
“I am sure it will not be a victim of the reform of FIFA,” Blatter added.
FIFA is looking to take greater control of IFAB by establishing a new unit to run the body while stressing that the “composition will remain unchanged.”
IFAB has agreed, however, to consult more by establishing a technical panel featuring refereeing experts and a football panel containing around 20 former players and coaches as well as current coaches.
FIFA’s new anti-racism chief plans to talk with highprofile offenders on the pitch as he sets about formulating tougher sanctions after claiming the victims have been let down by football authorities.
A spate of racial abuse cases among players and fans in recent years has led to FIFA President Sepp Blatter this week appointing Vice President Jeffrey Webb to head a task force to tackle the problem.
“We’ve been talking for a long time in football (about racism) and I don’t really think that we’ve supported the players,” Webb said on Saturday. “I don’t think we’ve necessarily put the right sanctions in place to support them. It’s a travesty that it comes to that.”
Some fines imposed by FIFA have been seen as too lenient. FIFA fined Bulgaria and Hungary in January around $40,000 each for racist and anti-Semitic abuse by their fans.
“I really don’t think that financial instruments in today’s world are enough to deal with it,” Webb, who heads CONCACAF, said on the sidelines of a meeting of football’s rule-makers in Edinburgh. “With the money that’s involved in football today, the fines that are being established, I don’t think they’re working, obviously.”
Blatter has previously said point deductions and relegation punishments are needed as disciplinary options to help deal with discrimination at matches.
The heaviest bans for racist abuse by players have come in England. Liverpool striker Luis Suarez served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a match and Chelsea captain John Terry was suspended for four games for hurling insults at Anton Ferdinand at Queens Park Rangers.
Webb plans to make a fact-finding trip to England where he hopes to speak to players, including Suarez, Terry, Evra and Ferdinand.
“I will be meeting with the FA chairman David Bernstein and visiting the FA,” Webb said. “At that time I would also like to meet with some of the players, perhaps have a round-table discussion to talk to the players and get their input, get some suggestions from them and learn from what their experiences are. There’s a number of players who have been victimized, targeted. Plus we would like to hear both sides really.”
“The IFAB has agreed that greater levels of consultation are required to provide greater transparency and opportunities for other associations and stakeholders to contribute with ideas and initiatives to benefit the game,” Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan said. “This will need to be approved by FIFA Congress in May.”
IFAB meetings had previously been bitterly divided by the issue of goal-line technology, but the issue has been settled in the last year after FIFA President Sepp Blatter ended his opposition to high-tech aids being given to referees.
FIFA announced Friday that a fourth system had been licensed. GoalControl4D, which uses seven high-speed cameras aimed at each goalmouth, joins another camera-based system, Hawk-Eye, and two other projects — GoalRef and Cairos — which use magnetic field technology to judge if the ball crossed the line.
FIFA is yet to disclose the costs of the technology, but FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke said the cheapest costs around $100,000 to install in a stadium and maintain.
Valcke was speaking after IFAB approved the use of the goal-line technology decision sent to referees’ watches also being seen by television viewers and in stadiums on big screens.
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