As host of "Problem Corner" I thought a good starting point would be the opening Holland Goal against Italy in the Euro 2008 Championships.

Reading the various debates in the papers I was interested in the following statement printed in one of the tabloids:

LAW 11 article 11.4.1 of the Refereeing code states

"An opposing player cannot be offside where one of the last two defenders have left the field of play"

It would be interesting to know how many of my fellow referees had seen a copy of the "Refereeing Code"

I have always consulted the LOAF (courtesy of Cyril West) which makes no mention of the above statement.

It does mention the following statement

"If a defending player steps behind his own goal line in order to place an opponent in an offside position, the referee shall allow play to continue"

In the incident in the Holland against Italy game, I believe the defender was taken out by his own goalkeeper and could hardly be guilty of stepping behind his own goal line.

I will be interested to hear the many views of my fellow referees.