ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

What Happened to Obstruction?

Watching games these days, I have been struck by the absence of any obstruction decisions.

A player pushes the ball past someone who gets in his way, intentionally or not. I am not saying they all should be called up for fouls... In fact I believe many of them are caused by the man with the ball and the defender has no chance of getting out of his way. The player with the ball is looking for the foul and when he falls to ground, appeals go up for a penalty or, at least, a direct free-kick.

But shouldn't this be, at most, obstruction? I don't like indirect free kicks in the penalty area but unless obstruction has been deleted from the rule book without my knowing it, surely this is the correct call?
Terry White, San Jose, CA, USA Posted 18/03/2010 at 21:17:17

back Return to the Mail Bag

Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Brian Williams
1 Posted 19/03/2010 at 03:37:34

Report abuse

The "obstruction" that annoys me the most and also seems to have been decriminalised (couldn’t think of an appropriate term) is the one where a defender, having no intention to play the ball, shepherds it out for a goal kick while completely blocking off the attacker, even to the extent of barging him should he be cheeky enough to try and "nip" round the defender. Sometimes the ball’s being "blocked" for a good 5 metres...obstruction?

Nick Entwistle
2 Posted 19/03/2010 at 05:06:49

Report abuse

You can’t call a foul on a defender who has done know more than be where he is.

Problem nowadays is that players use this as a tactic, running into the defender rather than going round him to gain a freekick.
What is this importance on a free kick? Surely keeping the ball moving is better? Maybe not statistically but... well, maybe that’s the answer.

As for Brian’s post, it may be annoying, but so long as the defender is at a distance from the ball which would be deamed having it under his control, then there’s not much a ref can do as he’s just sheilding it fom the opposition.

But what annoys me, is a ’keeper coming out into a crowd of players, flapping for the ball, knowing that if anything wrong happens the ref will blow for a free kick due to the keeper being impeded. Jeez...

Brian Noble
3 Posted 19/03/2010 at 05:17:38

Report abuse

I understand that although the laws have not been amended,referees are instructed to ignore ’obstruction’which used to be penalised by an indirect free kick (now rarely given) ’in the interests of keeping the game flowing’.

Duncan McDine
4 Posted 19/03/2010 at 05:20:33

Report abuse

From my experience, there are thousands of obstructions every game... but that’s just the Goodison pillars.

Steve Pugh
5 Posted 19/03/2010 at 05:35:51

Report abuse

I am with Brian Williams on this. How can a player be in control of the ball if he hasn’t even touched it?

In a world where every football fan wants to see more attacking football surely outlawing this one action would improve the game no end.

A change in the offside rule wouldn’t hurt either. Instead of the halfway line, change the rule so that you can’t be offside on your side of the oppositions 18 yard line. nor can you be offside if only one player has touched the ball since you did, thus opening it up for players to be more successful with one-twos around the box. The number of times the Lille fullback got caught offside last night because he played a one-two with a midfielder as he tore down the right wing was infuriating.

Nick Entwistle
6 Posted 19/03/2010 at 06:17:33

Report abuse

Steve, I’m one who thinks that the offside law should go back to how it was.

The current rule allows the leading striker to dictate the defensive line, and thus this ’athletic’ style of football we know see where pace is everything.

Before guile and inginuity were needed to break down a defence and teams be they domestic or international brought out their own personality.

Brazil in this comng world cup will be no more exciting than any other team... maybe better, but where’s the samba soccer?

Also, rarely do we find artists like Platini or Cruyff now. It all gets trained ot of the players to fit in with the running machine on the pitch.

Iain Love
7 Posted 19/03/2010 at 08:25:12

Report abuse

Nick , Artists like Platini or Cruyff are always rare.
As for the current offside rule it’s much better than watching a goal hanger and a long punt.
I do believe it would be better if they gave the benifit of the doubt to the attacker though.

Iain Love
8 Posted 19/03/2010 at 08:32:51

Report abuse

Oh Sorry Obstruction, so if a defender obstructs an attacker to let a ball run out of play thats ok ? but if an attacker obstructs a defender to let a ball run to a teamate thats a foul ? .Aren’t they both sheilding the ball ?

Eric Myles
9 Posted 19/03/2010 at 11:25:33

Report abuse

Nick, the offside law HAS gone back to how it was before they buggered with it and made it how you want it to go back to.

Nick Entwistle
10 Posted 19/03/2010 at 13:31:21

Report abuse

Don’t know what you’re refering to Eric, I’m talking about most advanced forward behind the last two defenders to be deamed onside.

Mike Allison
11 Posted 19/03/2010 at 14:55:52

Report abuse

"How can a player be in control of the ball if he hasn’t even touched it?"

Because he could play it if he wanted or needed to. The phrase, whether its in the laws or just refereeing guidelines, is ’playing distance’. If the defender is within playing distance of the ball, then he has control of it, and can shield it from an attacker. The problem is that referees should be red hot on this to discourage players from doing it but they let them get away with it even when the distance is quite big. This did used to be worse though.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.