FOOTBALL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3038, 20 May 1926, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

TITE OFFSIDE RULE. “The most difficult rule to master in the whole oil the Rugby book is that concerning offside,” remarked Mr. T. A. Fletcher in a lecture to the Wellington Rugby Referees Association. “Both players and spectators (and often referees also) show great ignorance as to this rule, and repeatedly appeal for a penalty when the allaged offender was quite entitled to play the ball. Yet, though so difficult to interpret correctly, it is so full of possibilities that no rule in the book is more interesting. A player often appears to be offside when, if we. apply the test questions, we find he is not. The referee has therefore to be most careful in his decision for an undeserved penalty is decidedly unfair to the team that suffers from it. It takes some little time to master this rule, but in the end it will be found to be fairly easy. Once the main principles are mastered there is not a great deal of difficulty in settling every point that arises. “Now, just exactly what does ‘offside’ mean? It means that when a player has the ball in his possession or has just kicked it, all his team mates who are in front of him are off-side. Those who are behind him are onside. “As everything depends, therefore, on the player who last handled the ball, this is the player that the referee must keep in mind until his team-mates are onside. If the referee is to interpret the off-side rule intelligently, he must be prepared at any time to nominate the last man to play the ball and relative position of his team-mates (whether they were in front or behind) when he parted with it. “Many players and spectators think that because a man is in front of the ball he is off-side; but this is not necessarily so, unless the ball is in the scrummage. Similarly, some people have the idea that if a player is facing his own goal-line he is off-side. Needless to say, this is quite wrong.

“A player may be off-side, but that does not incur a penalty unless he does certain things. They are: —

1. Playing, the ball. 2. Approaching or wilfully remaining within ten yards of an opponent waiting to receive the ball.

3. Obstructing an opponent, either actively or passively.

4 Entering the scrummage from his opponents’ side of the ball.”