Is ‘Wenger’s law’ on offside what football needs in the age of VAR?

Peter Walton, former Premier League refereeArsène Wenger’s proposed change to the offside law — that an attacker is only offside if there is clear daylight between themselves and the defender — would benefit the game greatly.

“Wenger’s law” is not altogether new. When I first started refereeing in the Premier League in 2002, Philip Don, the head of referees, said that assistants should keep their flags down unless there was daylight between attacker and defender.

This interpretation of offside is what football expects — not goals being chalked off for stray toes and armpits. That is unfortunately the way the law has been interpreted since the introduction of video assistant referees. It is high time the law caught up with technology.

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