No sport can work itself in a mud, just like football. Until the introduction of semi-automated outside, we had civil servants in cabins who pulled lines on screens to determine the relative positions of the toenail of one player and the heel of the other.
Even when the var operators asked their judgment, it rarely seemed convincing.
On the other hand, we told officials in the middle of the action that they should not signal a flagrant exterior – and that has led to a bad injury to Forestham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi.
The IFAB legislators usually make changes in the context of the game during their annual meeting in the spring. Nevertheless, there is a provision to keep extraordinary general meetings to make snifter changes. Now a player has suffered such serious damage, it is high time that they acted.
This was particularly astonishing. While Anthony Elanga started, Elliot Anderson deliberately delayed a fraction of a second – and that was all that Conor coady needed.
The experienced Leicester defender stepped forward when Anderson sent the ball in the direction of Elanga. There was a clear daylight between Elanga and coady – cut and dried.
Except that it wasn't. Because when there is a possible goals, the assistants of referees are advised to reduce their flags until the move is completed. In this way, the theory, they have more time to consider tight calls and at least VAR checks every decision.
All good and good – until you have such an incident. After Elanga was allowed to continue, forest replacement Awoniyi tore forward. With the competition level at 2-2, a goal at that stage forest would have returned to the top five and brought it on track for a place in the Champions League of next season.
Elanga pushed it over and Awoniyi and Leicester Vooruit Facundo Buonanotte threw towards it. Awoniyi got the last touch, the ball dripped wide and both players bumped with the post. The match was stopped for a few minutes while they were treated.
A little more than 24 hours later, Awoniyi was taken to the hospital for urgent operation with an abdominal injury. Fortunately, the Nigerian recovers well – but he would never have been in this position if the officials could use common sense.
No debt may be confirmed to Sian Massey-Elis, who ran the line. Her every instinct would have been to lift her flag. Blame the legislators, not those who have to implement the rules.
We understand why this tweak was made. Imagine that the anger of a Premier League manager was denied the opportunity to score because an official had wrongly called offside.
But if supporters can see an obvious offside, the officials can do that too. When the call is really tight, they will still keep their flags low. Let us trust that they do their work – and more unnecessary injuries such as these avoid.