The greatest irony of it all, of course, is that, for all Andy’s tactical (if not tactful) awareness, the lady linesman they thought they were privately slating did nothing wrong and plenty right in the 90 minutes which followed their laddish pre-match critique. The stupidity and ignorance of their sentiments lies in the fact that countless male officials make mistakes every single game. The only criteria should be one’s aptitude to do the job properly, and there are no shortage of well-paid men who can’t. Certainly, many men don’t fully understand the ridiculously interpretive offside rule and never will.
