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August 08, 2005
Offsides Literally Impossible to Call: A Feature, Not a Bug
Posted by Nick
A new British medical journal article says detecting offsides in soccer is impossible -- literally.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that the human eye is unable to detect an offside position during a football match.
The study conducted by Dr Francisco Belda Maruenda analysed the physiology of the human eye to clarify if it is able to process all the visual information needed to apply the rule.
To apply the offside rule correctly, the referee must be able to keep at least five moving objects in his visual field at the same time (two players of the attacking team, the last two players of the defending team, and the ball).
But this is beyond the capacity of the human eye, especially as these five objects can be anywhere within the defenders' half of the pitch, an area of at least 3200m2.
A lot of folks want technology to handle this 'problem'. But what some see as a bug, I see as a feature. The difficulty -- nay, impossibility -- of being sure of an offsides call (except in the most blatant instances) opens up all sorts of creative space for strikers and defenders to take risks and gambles. It's one of the cool things about soccer, in my view.
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Nick Schulz is the Editor of Tech Central Station and has worked in media circles and the ideas industry as a writer, editor, television producer and policy analyst. His writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The National Post of Canada, The Baltimore Sun, Investor's Business Daily, The Washington Times, National Review, Reason, Policy Review, and several other publications. He is also, it should be said, a rabid sports fan whose fandom is inversely proportional to his overall athletic ability.
1. Craig Richardson on August 8, 2005 04:57 PM writes...
It's an even bigger challenge than the article suggests:
(1) the passing player and the ball can be in the other half of the field
(2) the official sometimes also has to keep the center line in view, as a run started from the other half is not offside, regardless of the position of the defenders
(3) while the vast majority of the time one of the defenders will be the goalkeeper, sometimes it isn't, so you can't always take the shortcut
I don't think even a spotter in the booth with video screens and RFID tags in the players' boots could process everything in real time.
Actually, players don't really mind and fans probably prefer the uncertainty (complaining about calls is part and parcel of fandom). Technical solutions are being driven by the same dynamic as gridiron instant replay - with all the money at stake in big (esp. club) competitions, boards don't want to lose a valuable tie on a "bad" call.
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