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English FA decline change in offside law [Fri Jul 22nd, 2005]
The (English) Football Association has decided not to adopt FIFA's controversial new ‘interpretation’ of the offside law.
FIFA’s new guidelines mean that the linesman’s flag will only be raised when a player in an offside position actually touches the ball.
But an FA spokesman told BBC Sport: "The law has not changed, just the interpretation of it. The offside law in England will be the same as it was last season."
The offside law says that a player cannot be offside unless "actively involved in play".
But the new FIFA guideline calls for linesmen to signal only when the offside player touches the ball.
FIFA said the offside rule "has not changed in essence", but when it was tried out in the Confederations Cup, it came in for criticism from players and managers.
Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre and German keeper Oliver Kahn both spoke out against the change, which was defended by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Southampton manager Harry Redknapp has also criticised it, describing it as "one of the most bizarre rules ever to come into play" after a pre-season friendly, while Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray said it was "comical".
The Scottish Football Association have also decided not to implement the new interpretation, as have the European governing body UEFA.
It means that British-based players will be playing under different rules in domestic competitions from those that will apply during the World Cup qualifiers, which resume in September.
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