Club Linesmen

Birchover Park  2  Awsworth Villa Reserves  2

Nottinghamshire Senior League - First Division

I've got a very simple and straightforward view on the subject matter of club linesmen, either don't bother with them at all, or, only let them get involved in throw in's.

The reason is simple, the moment you let them get involved in the decision making process over offside calls, you are quite simply asking for trouble.

It works a bit like this...

The ball goes over the top from Team A, and the opposing club linesman from Team B in all sincerity calls a player offside. Team A go crackers, Team B's lino is a 'cheating bastard', so Team A then issue an instruction to their lino...

"Every time Team B cross the half way line, stick your fucking flag up"

Team A's lino complies, Team B respond by telling their lino the following...

"Cheating bastards, right, we do the same, every time, stick that fucking flag up."

It subsequently turns into a farce, the flag is up at every opportunity, the players get exasperated and the referee is caught between a rock and a hard place. He could ask for the lino's to be replaced, but the cycle only happens all over again.

The Much Maligned Club Linesman

The game at Egerton on Monday didn't have club linesmen, the referee was making all the calls, and to be fair a couple of the goals Billinge scored were offside, but by the same token they had a couple chalked off that were fine. The difference being, no bias, and over the course of a game hopefully, and certainly over a season, the decisions even themselves out.

Steve and myself decided to pay a visit to Birchover Park because we discovered that they were playing on one of the outside pitches at the Harvey Hadden Stadium, and we'd not been there before. Rules is rules, we had to do it, but not before we'd found a watering hole in the shape of a pub on the Bilborough estate. It was ok, apart from the chap in the wheelchair who tried in insist in the absolute strongest terms that we had a game of pool with him, our decline of his kind offer was not well received one bit. We moved to the lounge bar, only for someone to try to throw a pint of lager all over me, he missed, but it was a close call. My crime was that I chose to sat within flinging distance of the said beverage. He claimed it was accidental, the jury remains out on that one.........

The pitch at Harvey Hadden was in poor state, it had a wooden barrier around two thirds of it, and on a windy night I have to confess to not being overly enthused by events and locations thus far, and to be fair, a pretty turgid first thirty minutes did nothing to lift the spirits. Except of course the Birchover Park linesman had found his flag nice and early, and that resulted in a series of expletives heading in his general direction. He had only just got started though, crossing the half way line was the least of Villa's worries!

Solar Panels - Buy Two Get One Free

Birchover scored, I'm not sure how, but they did, and then early in the second period they scored again, this time with a well worked goal. This is when the fun began.

Villa got a penalty, Birchover were not happy, accusations of cheating abounded, and when the spot kick was launched wide, the mocking of the afflicted Awsworth player began in earnest. He kept his calm though when all around him in opposing shirts were probably angling for a confrontation.

Villa then scored the softest of goals, and it was game on. Lo and behold, they then scored another, who was mocking who now? But then our friend the Birchover Park lino came into his own, he saved his best until the virtual last kick of the game.

Villa were buzzing now, they launched the ball forward, Birchover were all at sea. A lobbed effort from a Villa player struck the crossbar as we moved into added time, it rebounded and eluded both the goalkeeper and a defender that was desperately tracking back, it fell to a Villa player who bundled it over the line, it was time for mass celebrations. no doubt inspired by both the linesman's clear ploy to prevent any kind of goalscoring opportunity, and also the antics around the missed penalty when they were 2-0 down.

Up went the linesman's flag, Awsworth were aghast, it was such a serious call that the referee actually took it upon himself to not simply take his flag for it, he chose to got and have a conversation with him. For a few moments we waited with baited breath.

The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty area, indirect free-kick, the goalscorer had been in an offside position when the initial shot had been taken. Cue pandemonium, Villa were furious, Birchover for once kept very quiet.

I turned to Steve and we agreed, if we were being objective about it, it was probably the only decision he got right all game!

The Scene Of The Controversy - The Calm Before The Storm If You Like