One of the things that niggles referees more than most, is television pundits commenting on the laws of the
game of which, for the most part, they are ignorant. Usually they are ex-players whose knowledge of the laws is limited to what they picked up as a player. Ex-players on our courses for prospective referees constantly admit that they would never have believed how little they knew of the laws before the course.
Our other complaint about television is that Referees are seldom given the chance of putting their point of view.
Two Saturdays ago, however, the referee of the Wycombe Wanderers FA Cup game with Wimbledon explained on BBC's Match of the Day, why he had allowed the Wanderers last minute goal, although the scorer was in an offside position. The reason was that his assistant referee was of the opinion that the player was not in 'active play' in the first phase when the ball was passed forward by his own player.
Alan Hanson ridiculed the referee's explanation saying, 'I have never heard of a first phase and a second phase in football before.' His comments were repeated by at least one newspaper who believe that, as he is supposed to be the football expert, he knows what he is talking about. 'Ref coins new phrase' was its headline.
There is nothing new about it, and if Alan Hanson has never heard of it, then my suggestion to him is that he learns about it. He could try the Refereeing Department of the FA or alternatively the training team of his local Referees' Association. I know that if he came to us here in Reading we would be pleased to bring him up to date.
As a simple example of what we mean by phases of play, imagine a player
in an offside position on the left wing. The ball however is passed to a team-mate on the right wing who is on-side. The player on the left wing cannot be given offside because he is not in active play. His team mate with the ball runs to the goal line and passes the ball back to the previously off-side player who scores.
What we as referees say, is that the pass to the on-side team-mate was the first phase of play. His run to the goal line and subsequent pass to the player who had been offside is the second phase. If we didn't look at it in this way the player who scored could be given offside when he eventually becomes involved in active play because he has gained an advantage.
In the Wycombe cup tie, three Wycombe players were in an offside position inside the penalty area when the ball was kicked forward by a team-mate from the middle of the half. It only got as far as the edge of the penalty area. It was then headed backwards by a Wimbledon defender to the Wycombe scorer. The assistant referee's view was that in the first phase of play, the kick from the Wycombe player in the middle of the field would not have reached his offside colleagues. They therefore were not in active play.
The second phase of play occurred when the Wimbledon player headed the ball backwards. A player cannot be offside from a pass by an opponent. This is different from a ball played forward but deflected by a defender in the same phase of play.
Now it can be open to debate whether the referee and his assistant correctly applied the law in respect to the phasing and active play. That, as referees, we would be happy to go along with. That is much better than smart aleck remarks intended to belittle the referee because Alan Hanson had never heard of the technique. All that does is show his ignorance.
Dick Sawdon Smith