Saturday 19 April 2014

The Importance Of Linesman Tools

By Essie Osborn


A linesman is like a sectary of an office assistant but in a good way. In field sport linemen contribute a huge role in the good officiating and smooth flow of the matches that take place. This is the desire of stakeholders of any given sport, be it players, coaches, fanatics or even the owners of teams. A lot goose on it team sport as this attracts a lot of attention in terms of numbers and following. With this comes huge responsibilities that are given to a few. For the chosen few to carry out this they need good linesman tools.

The type and nature of tools that linesmen use depend on the type of sport the linesman is. The few sports that entail the need of a linesman are: Football (soccer), American Football, and Rugby. The synonymous nature of the games is not an irony. Rugby is attributed to giving birth to soccer and American football in turn came from Rugby. The basic information is that, in Rugby, we have a linesman and so is soccer and American football. The equipment generally used are: watches, earpiece sets for communication, jerseys, whistles, boots and flags.

Back in history, 1986 Soccer World cup. Diego Maradona, the best soccer player at that time did the most controversial thing ever. He scored a goal, through handball, against the English team a matter that till date has never left the tongues of many. This simple incident could have been easily avoided if the linesmen had the skills, tools and technological advancements that their counterparts of today have.

Such a handball could be easily been avoided if the match officials were well equipped, skilled and to some extent had the input of technology to a reasonable extent as their present companions have. A handball, for the little who know, is controlling of handling of the ball with a players arms. Football players do contrary to what the NBA players do. This is the reason as to why goalkeepers have gloves on to handle the ball.

Linesmen ought to be quick, precise and on-point with their decision. This is arguably the characteristics and qualities of a desirable linesman. This however deserves a good equipping. In the English Premier League, linesmen are equipped with flags, jerseys to distinguish them from players and earpiece sets for communication. They also have modernized minute boards that fourth officials use in keeping and showing additional time.

The flags are important in field sport. For one reason, for communication. It would be quite archaic to use a microphone or speaker every time the ball crossed the line as way to signal that. This is why FIFA and IRB, the soccer governing body and their rugby counterparts respectively, have trained their linesmen in official sign communication with the referee. This is done with the aid of a flag.

Earpiece on the other hand have acted like mobile phone in the field. It is easier to call someone who is far than shouting. The earpiece in this case entail both the shouting and easy accessing of a referee from a linesman and vice versa. Linesman as assistants can seek further clarity from the other officials and in turn a true judgment is made before the whistle is blown.

Boots, whistles and referring attire have traditionally been the tools being used in match officiating. They cannot be ignored because without them field sport could not be what it is today.




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