Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford has has unbelievably revealed on the Peter Crouch podcast that even referees were unsure over the offside laws earlier this season.
Bamford was one of the first players to have a goal disallowed for his shoulder effectively being stationed in an offside position, when Leeds met Crystal Palace back in November.
Bamford had pointed for the ball to be played in front of him, but by doing so his arm had extended beyond the last Palace defender.
The Leeds striker was then adjudged to have been offside, to the complete disbelief of many.
And Bamford says that even referee Chris Kavanagh wasn’t totally clued up on the law when the decision was initially given.
“I was fuming because I was sure I was onside. I thought there’s no chance they’re ruling that out,” he said.
“When I was waking back and they had given it offside, I was like to the ref ‘why have they given that offside, I was miles on?’
“He was like ‘they’ve said something about your arm’ and I said ‘is that the rule then?’
“And the ref goes to me ‘I don’t know’ so at that point nobody had a clue!”
The unbelievable story goes to highlight just how VAR has changed football.
It is also likely to create further furore about the system, which has not been universally accepted by supporters.
On the occasion Leeds were actually beaten 4-1 by Palace, but if Bamford’s goal had stood the match could have taken an entirely different course.
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