PHIL Parkinson, legendary former captain of Reading Football Club, was feeling aggrieved last Saturday.

He felt that Bolton Wanderers, the club he now manages, was denied the opportunity to leapfrog Reading in their fight for survival in the Championship.

The reason for his ire, was that he felt the goal by their opponents, Sheffield Wednesday, should have been ruled offside.

He claimed the referee was wrong not to have accepted his assistant’s flag.

The referee did go over and talk to his assistant, but obviously looking at it differently, allowed the goal to stand.

To be fair, it was an unusual situation, but although it was not included in any law changes, it has been ruled on previously, by the International FA Board.

First we need to look at that most contentious of all football laws, offside.

At the start this Law says ‘a player in an offside position is only penalised, if he is involved in active play’.

This, it describes, as playing or touching the ball that has been passed by a team mate or interfering with an opponent by preventing him playing or being able to play the ball.

There was a Sheffield player in an offside position when the ball was passed through a little wide of him. However, he never attempted to play the ball, which was several yards away, but a team mate came from an onside position and scored the vital goal.

What then was Parkinson’s objection?

He maintained that the offside player had provided an obstruction that prevented one of his defenders from being able to play the ball or tackle the scorer.

In the law on obstruction or impeding as it is now called, it has to be deliberate. A player, who happens to be standing in an opponent’s way, can’t be expected to move.

Its’ only an offence if he deliberately moves into his opponent’s way. This doesn’t apply in offside.

If, by being in an offside position, he had prevented an opponent from playing the ball, he should have been given offside.