[Archived] Lee Williamson

[dingles staying down 4ever]

Did he approach the play? NO. The linesman was WRONG to raise the flag. We have to agree to disagree - well you're not going to admit you are wrong. Just goes to show that some people don't understand the offside rule.

Did he run away from the ball then or when the ball went dead was he closer to the ball than at the start of the play? He was closer. It doesn't matter as the ref had stopped play.

[RevidgeBlue]

I think everyone's giving the referee way too much credit if they think he was thinking so far ahead he"d taken into account that he'd noticed Rhodes was clean through but that the assistant had (wrongly) flagged for offside, therefore he pulled it back to give us some sort of advantage.

He was fixed on the foul and hadn't even noticed Rhodes had an advantage.

EDIT: If the move had got as far as Rhodes and the lino had (wrongly) put his flag up the ref would have gone on the flag and stopped play. Extremely rare for them to do otherwise.

[Stuart]

I think everyone's giving the referee way too much credit if they think he was thinking so far ahead he"d taken into account that he'd noticed Rhodes was clean through but that the assistant had (wrongly) flagged for offside, therefore he pulled it back to give us some sort of advantage.

He was fixed on the foul and hadn't even noticed Rhodes had an advantage.

In the replays the ref was looking right at the incident and was too quick to put his whistle to his lips. Very poor officiating all round if you are right. The only other reason for not allowing 5 seconds to seek an advantage is that he saw the flag, or he and the linesman were mic'd up and the lino said "offside".

The referee and linesman cheated Rovers more than Williamson cheated Bumley. Neither of those will be suspended for it though.

[RevidgeBlue]

In the replays the ref was looking right at the incident and was too quick to put his whistle to his lips. Very poor officiating all round if you are right. The only other reason for not allowing 5 seconds to seek an advantage is that he saw the flag, or he and the linesman were mic'd up and the lino said "offside".

The referee and linesman cheated Rovers more than Williamson cheated Bumley. Neither of those will be suspended for it though.

Talking about waiting to see if an advantage developed, there was another incident where the ref played advantage and the Burnley player had the ball but then completely fluffed his pass and the referee pulled play back to give a free kick! That's applying the advantage rule far too liberally the other way and refs do it quite often.

[Stuart]

I noticed that too Rev. I thought he was a bit of a homer for most of the game. (But I suppose I would).

[Steve Moss]

I meant that the linesman will raise his flag if someone is offside but if that player doesn't touch the ball then the ref will ignore it.

I'm only a U14 referee but being in an offside position is not an offense.

Being offside and:

1. Playing the ball;

2. Interfering with another player; or

3. Gaining some form of advantage,

that is the offside offense.

Ken Aston has a great explanation for it here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjftWVxB8ZA

Talking about waiting to see if an advantage developed, there was another incident where the ref played advantage and the Burnley player had the ball but then completely fluffed his pass and the referee pulled play back to give a free kick! That's applying the advantage rule far too liberally the other way and refs do it quite often.

Again, I'm only a U14 referee, but signalling an advantage and waiting a moment or two to see if the advantage you thought existed develops is perfectly permissible. If the advantage does not develop, then you can call it back and give the kick.

[Stuart]

Again, I'm only a U14 referee, but signalling an advantage and waiting a moment or two to see if the advantage you thought existed develops is perfectly permissible. If the advantage does not develop, then you can call it back and give the kick.

As always with refereeing, the problem is consistency. Plus, how long is reasonable to give an advantage, and what constitutes an advantage or even loss of advantage, are also sources of frustration.

[Steve Moss]

As always with refereeing, the problem is consistency. Plus, how long is reasonable to give an advantage, and what constitutes an advantage or even loss of advantage, are also sources of frustration.

Consistency is very important, which is why after match assessment is important. But it's all "in the opinion of the referee . . ." and decisions of the referee "are final" so there is no sense getting worked up about it.

Steve

[Stuart]

Consistency is very important, which is why after match assessment is important. But it's all "in the opinion of the referee . . ." and decisions of the referee "are final" so there is no sense getting worked up about it.

Steve

Sorry, did you say "sense"? This is football we are talking about!!