Padiham Saints J.F.C

See we've got the spammers back on site, they need to get a proper job.

Although I've only been watching the u15's this year I notice the standard of linesmanship has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime. The Allmight himself wouldn't convince me that some of these linesmen flag to give their side an unfair advantage. That's being too nice...........they do it to cheat the opposition.

I watched a game the other week and there was an official ref sat watching the u15's, their linesman flagged an offside, we shouted against it and she just sat with a big grin on her face shaking her head. Believe it or not it happened again and she again just shook her head and turned away.

We're now seeing it week in week out, everyone can make a mistake and I'll accept anyone saying they did but flagging offside even before the balls been played let alone before he sees which player it's played to just beggars belief.
Sorry linesmen, I reiterate what I've been saying for a few years, if you don't understand or can't comprehend what the offside rule is, don't run the line.
If you are all going to stand up and stamp your feet and shout and scream that you do, well cheating is far more widespread than I even thought it was.

I should have added to the above post that a couple of weeks later I watched a couple of teams not associated with Saints that was being reffed by a local ladie ref. She had complete control of the game, overuled the linesman countless times mostly for offside decisions. You see the fact was, she had no personal interest in the result and more importantly she knew the rules particularly the offside one.

One incident from the game that was a reverse of what is the norm was the linesman from the side I'd gone to support. He's stood virtually on the corner flag and a through ball came along about 20 yards out, the lad that picked it up was at least three yards offside and the flag didn't go up. Mistake by the linesman........no. Linesman well out of position, well..... yes........but not the reason. The numpty was on his mobile phone..........now that's freakin sad.

Totally agree with you Jon, linesmen in the league this year have been absolutely shocking but saying that te refs have been awful as well. I have actualy rung the league and asked if we can have 2 linesman allocated for our matches and at least then there shouldn't be any unfairness going on because they should be neutral to who wins.

That would be a huge advantage having someone running the line who understands the offside rule as it now is. Week in week out you see it on tv now where players are technically in an offside position but because they make no attempt to come into play they're not given offside. This is inline with the current rule and the 'amateurs' don't seem to be able to grasp it.