Dear Sir,

So many people in authority, from governments upward, seem to want to tinker with existing rules, etc., even when there is no obvious advantage to be gained from the tinkering.

Now we have Sept Blattter, FIFA president, not only emulating Blair in going for another term in office, but doing it with a Blair-like belief in himself.

Amongst his latest offerings is a suggestion that the always highly controversial offside law should again be altered.

For years, with a number of embellishments such as "not interfering with play", it was the "two defender" law.

This was difficult enough for the poor linesman to call, but then they altered it to the "one defender" law . . . i.e. one defender between the attacker and the defenders' goal-line, when the ball was last played by another attacker, which didn't help the poor linesman at all.

More recently, a further obfuscating directive was issued which led to great exploitation by players such as Van Nistelrooy.

I suggest that a player in an offside position is always in a position where he "might" gain an unfair advantage by distracting defenders and, therefore, in almost every case should be given offside.

Consider further the field of vision of a goalkeeper. Does Mr. Blatter know what the average angle of vision is even without moving the eyes or head?

Nearer to goal, an attacker, even without the ball, is bound to be seen by the goalkeeper in his peripheral or direct vision and the 'keeper would then be distracted to some extent.

When the ball is played forward by an attacker, such a player should be given offside even if the pass is not to him directly.

I think Blatter's new idea is ridiculous and personally I think that we should return to the "two defender" system.

Of course, we could abolish the law completely and return to having 20 players stretching from goal area to goal area, and instant mayhem. Or would it lead to more open football?

R.BRACEWELL

Ex-player, FA coach, Honorary Life Member of the English Football League Referees and Linesmen's Association, Honorary Life Member of the Bermuda Referees' Association, ex-FIFA Referee, Qualified FIFA Lecturer