Graham Poll - Why Newcastle Were Robbed!

Last updated : 14 January 2014 By Footy Mad - Editor

WHAT THE LAW SAYS:-
 
Graham Poll: "The incident has led to calls for the offside law to be revised.  But the law is clearly defined and needs no adjustment — it just needs to be applied correctly.

"This is the law in its simplest form:
When the ball is played forward to a colleague in the opponents’ half of the field:

"A player is offside if he is nearer the opponents’  goal-line than the second defender (the first is normally the goalkeeper) and is in front of the ball.

"A player must be either interfering with play or an opponent, or gaining an advantage to be penalised for being in an offside position.

"The player is only deemed as interfering with play if he touches or plays the ball. Gouffran did neither.

"The player is only interfering with an opponent if he is preventing him from playing the ball or, in the case of an opposing goalkeeper, is obstructing his line of sight of the ball. Hart later claimed he had been prevented from diving, but that is a red herring."

WHY MIKE JONES GOT IT WRONG

"Three Newcastle players were in offside positions when the ball was played forward, but they should not have been penalised as they did not touch the ball, interfere with opponents or obstruct Joe Hart’s line of sight."