Stranger than fiction: the new 50 pence coin fails the offside test

That butt of all sporting jokes – the offside law in football – has come in for a battering in recent seasons. As an ex-football referee I could never understand why the offside law created such a fuss in media and supporters alike. At its heart is a basic simple law, but it is a law whose interpretation has changed over the years, mystifying some and confusing many. So when I heard the Royal Mint had issued new fifty pence pieces designed to explain the offside law of football I was intrigued.

However, not surprisingly for a coin produced by a Committee, the design on the coin actually gets the offside law wrong. What is explained on one side of the coin is the law as it stood until a few years ago, in the days when I ran the line on the South Midlands Football League. It is little surprise therefore that since its release the coin has been given the red card!

The coin is one of 29 designs produced to commemorate the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games. Each features a different sport. Immediately after its release referees rushed to criticise the coin for being confusing and, far worse, for being 'embarrassing'. Half a million of these coins are now in circulation.

The coin shows a midfielder about to pass to two team mates. The first player, on the left is offside, the second player is level with the defender and therefore, according to the designers, not offside (the law was changed in the early noughties to allow officials to give the benefit of doubt to the attack when attacker and defender were level).

Cartoon:Morecambe and Wise on football pitch, Wise hit on head by 50p coin

But the scenario on the coin describes the situation way back in 1995 when the Premiership was in its infancy, and the legendary Arsenal back four lined up and shouted 'Offside' behind Tony Adams's imperially raised arm, even when it wasn't offside, if you see what I mean. For the past 17 years the law has been changed to allow linesmen to flag for offside only when a player becomes involved in active play. Remarkably the coin design takes no account of this fundamental change.

The Royal Mint has tried to avoid an own goal by stating that the design was intended 'to provoke discussion'. Sadly for the Mint though, the design is years out of date and will cause further confusion. It is so last century.

Anyone watching a game this weekend, and staring at the new 50 pence piece for helpful advice, will be bemused. As for referees, one old pro confided to me last Sunday: 'It's total crap, Dick. I wouldn't even toss for ends with it!'

Nuff said.

Dick Skellington 3 February 2012

Cartoon by Gary Edwards

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TweetThat butt of all sporting jokes – the offside law in football – has come in for a battering in recent seasons. As an ex-football referee I could never understand why the offside law created such a fuss in media and supporters alike. At its heart is a basic simple law, but it is a law whose interpretation has changed over the years, mystifying some and confusing many. So when I ...

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About Society Matters

Provocative, relevant, current: for the last decade Society Matters magazine has been informing, engaging and annoying social sciences students in equal measure. Now, its move online has given us the chance to bring its lively mix of analysis and opinion to a wider audience.

Society Matters online started in October 2010 and has, so far, covered a wide range of issues and topics ranging from inequality and the big society to arms sales and foreign policy. All can be seen by scrolling down from the top of the Society Matters front page.

We have also illustrated many of these posts with the work of our two illustrators (see below). Serious analyses have been interspersed with posts on a less weighty issues which show both human folly and innovation.

Society Matters continues to be edited by its original creator, Dick Skellington. Dick, pictured above, was previously a programme manager in the social sciences faculty, walks the talk through an active involvement in the affairs of his home town of Stony Stratford, Bucks, and finds light relief through writing poetry and the occasional stage appearance in local productions.

Since many years at the coalface of journalism have taught us all that sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words Dick is aided and abetted by resident illustrators, Gary Edwards and Catherine Pain – both former OU students.

Catherine has drawn and painted all her life, and when she is not pillorying public figures for Society Matters paints animal portraits, works in stained glass and produces alphabet teaching posters for children. Her work is in several galleries in and around her current home in Cambridgeshire and her publications include an illustrated cookbook sold on behalf of the National Trust, a colouring book for small children, Alphabet for Colouring, and The Lost Children, a story for older children. Her website is at catherinepain.co.uk

Gary has written two best-selling books about his travels all over the world watching Leeds United FC, Paint it White and Leeds United - The Second Coat. His third title No Glossing Over will be published by Mainstream in September 2011. He has not missed a Leeds game anywhere in the world since February 1968 and married his wife Lesley at Elland Road.

Specialising in wall murals, Gary also holds diplomas from the London Art College, The Morris College of Journalism, has a Diploma in Freelance Cartooning and Illustration and is a contributing cartoonist for Speakeasy, an English-speaking magazine in Paris. During the 1970's and 1980's he collected hearses and is a long time member of the Official Flat Earth Society as well as the Clay Pigeon Preservation Society.

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