Padfoot
The Persecuted One
It amuses me that Padfoot quotes the Law 15 requirements for a throw in (albeit with the older "delivered" rather than the more recent "thrown") to make his point. When Santa Sangria points out correctly that the actual words Padfoot quoted prove him wrong, then HE is condemned for being pedantic. What is that about pots and kettles?....
It seems clear that the Law requires a throw in to be taken from where the ball crossed the line. Simple. Allow a yard or so leeway perhaps, but taking a TI from ten yards back from the line is not on. And if so taken, turn the ball over to the opposition.
Quite simply...."spirit of the game"......if you're going to allow someone to take a throw 1 meter further up the pitch as "leeway" which gains an advantge to the throwing team, surely a throw in taken from a greater distance away from the touchline, but so that the ball enters at the point which it left, thus gaining no advantage, is the epitome of "spirit of the game"?
People get far too hung up on throws....its a simple method of restarting play, which providing someone isn't gaining an advantage over it, should be easily managed using "spirit of the game".