22/07/2022
A touching interview with in. Antoon Soetens
By TobSport editorial team, TobSport.nl
Posted on: 21-04-2009.
In this article:
• An interview with the Belgian industrial engineer chemistry Antoon Soetens about his motives and projects.
TobSport is especially curious about his ingenious invention aimed at football: a machine for detecting offsides. Also read about the rigid attitude of officials towards his handy tool, which would be a godsend for fairer and better application of the rules…
(TobSport previously discussed the offside rule, its possible abolition and the imperfections that occur in enforcing the rule. See: “Approval for Scheringa: get rid of the offside rule in football!” with Dirk Scheringa, Marco van Basten , Louis van Gaal and Antoon Soetens. TobSport: 20-01-2009).
Introduction: the offside rule is an offside trap in itself
We are all annoyed by mistakes made by the arbitration at a football match. We get angry after a 'stolen victory' and we scold the main responsible on the field. But we usually forget quickly. The switch is turned, the mind at zero, after all, there is a new competition next week. We eventually accept the imperfections because we don't know any better.
After all, it happens to each of us personally.
Again and again, in every promising situation there is a blind tick with a flag up along the line. In the dressing room it turns out afterwards that striker Klaasje, in the weekend, in the disco, really should have kept his claws away from the girlfriend of the rival club linesman Keessie.
“The charm of football”: wrong results In the professional football world, however, there is no excuse.
Football: an industry of great economic value and appeal to the public still uses hopelessly outdated and outdated methods in various fields.
When it comes to generating resources (commercial expansion) and professionalizing organizations (implementation of solid organizational models, but also introducing 'new methods' such as mental guidance), other sports are catching up.
But when it comes to arbitration in football, there is still so much to improve upon.
We got a fourth man, who, among other things, is coquettish with a sign with the extra game minutes, but otherwise little changed. The way of refereeing is still almost as it was when football was born.
And so we have to wait for the moment when the discussion erupts for the umpteenth time (and again after a short time subsides into a storm in a teacup):
Do we have to use video images, Can we apply the offside rule adequately and fairly and Should there be cameras on the goal line?
Yes, we can!
The Belgian engineer Antoon Soetens is a louse in the fur of the world football association FIFA.
He is one of the few people on this planet who thinks-in-possibilities (*) when it comes to making improvements to the game of football. And especially when it comes to improving arbitration. Ever since his early football youth, Soetens has been amazed at the incompetent hobbyists along the lines.
Not everyone is resigned to FIFA's indecision and lack of decisiveness. Antoon Soetens did not give up and came up with a concrete and feasible idea. He opened his mouth to FIFA and actively pursues positive change. And FIFA doesn't like that. They prefer to dismiss designated improvements. Furthermore, the association is only too happy to hide behind the clincher of 'the charm of the game', when a referee is once again pilloried for a showy and decisive blunder.
He had an idea, Antoon Soetens. It took shape in the Soetens Offside system patented by him. An ingenious system for detecting offside or not, operated by the assistant referees and interpreted by the referee.
More about this system in Soetens' own words, in the following interview. Soetens on Offsidesystem: “Thanks to my positive thinking I can achieve positive results. Negative rays always return to the persons who emit them.” Ugh. There you have it. Right on the money. nuff said. Couldn't agree more...
(*) Known in management turbo language as DIM-men, the positive counterpart of the negative attitude of thinking in problems or impossibilities.
Now first the personal details:
Who is Antoon Soetens?
Industrial engineer in chemistry, Mr Antoon Soetens was born in Zwevegem in Belgium in 1942.
Today he lives in Tenerife in Spain. He has several patents on his after am including a patent for a soy meat stimulant, a solar collector, a tennis racket, the offside detection system, a golf ball, a special keyboard and a vehicle anti-rotation system.
For years he had exclusive contracts with tennis greats such as Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors and later the entire Wimbledon tournament when it comes to supplying the official game towel: a towel specially developed by him, with which the big earners wipe their faces. Soetens is also in possession of a silver medal, won at the Congress for International Inventions in Geneva for his solar collector.
What is the Offside System?
Soetens' Offside-system evolved from the year 2000 (Offside-detection-system) to 2003 (Perfect Offside-system). In 2002 Soetens demonstrated his system at the request of the Spanish Football Federation. It has not yet resulted in his system being adopted by a national football federation or FIFA. In 2005, Soetens declared FIFA in default, because of the impossible assignment that the worldwide football association gives the assistant referee in the first instance and the referee in the second instance.
The assistant must simultaneously determine the moment of playing the ball and the movement of the attacker in combination with the position of the defender.
To do this job well, he needs eyes like a hawk and the flexible neck of an owl.
And even then it is not possible to consider two different positions on the field at the same time, because the assistant does not have the required freedom of movement. Fortunately, the Belgian engineer Soetens came up with a solution.
His Offside System in short, in his own words (Offsidesystem.com):
“THE CURRENT ASSISTANT DETERMINES THE MOMENT WHEN A PLAYER IS IN THE OFFSIDE POSITION. AN EXTRA ASSISTANT STANDS ON THE OTHER SIDE AND DETERMINES THE MOMENT WHEN A PLAYER PLAYS THE BALL. BOTH OPERATE A TRANSMITTER FOR THIS. WHO PRESSES FIRST DETERMINES THE TRUTH.”
If the current assistant has pressed the button first, his flag will vibrate when the ball is played. The current assistant then raises his flag and the referee decides: active or passive offside. If the second assistant first presses his button, he blocks the current assistant's system and nothing happens. Play continues on the field.
(TobSport previously discussed the offside rule, its possible abolition and the imperfections that occur in enforcing the rule. See: “Approval for Scheringa: get rid of the offside rule in football!” TS: 20-01-2009 ).
And now as it should be, the protagonist himself speaking:
Interview: 10 questions for ing. Antoon Soetens
1. (TobSport:) “Dear Mr. Soetens, to what extent are you a football enthusiast yourself and do you have favorite football memories from your childhood that you would like to share with us?”
Antoon Soetens:
“Football was my favorite sport in my youth and I had a blind faith in the rules, which were never explained to us. I lived not far from the football field and from the age of 6 I became interested in the “control people” at a football match.
As an attentive spectator, I asked, “Sir, what are you doing?”. A brisk answer followed: “I am LINERIGHT”. I crawled over the fence and looked at the line. Well, it had a lot of twists. After the match I checked again and the line hadn't straightened out, apparently he couldn't fulfill his order. A fact that would be confirmed later…”
2. (TobSport:) “What made you leave Belgium to seek refuge in Tenerife?”
Antoon Soetens:
“It was a dream I've had for 30 years. Tenerife has the best climate on our planet and I feel good in a volcanic area. I followed the rules of logic and the circumstances drove me to it.”
3. (TobSport:) “Please describe your character and attitude to life in a few sentences. Who is Antoon Soetens?”
Antoon Soetens:
“I am a volcano of ideas and commitment. I am inscrutable and incomprehensible to my qualities. I am a realist and idealist, who wants to make the world a better place. With the slogan "I did it my way". Appreciation gives me radiance, humiliation makes me resentful. I'm not the inventor, but I am the people who try to make something work in an illogical way. I bring it back to logic.”
4. (TobSport:) “Now we come to your most relevant invention for this site: the Offside system: a simple, yet very effective offside detection system.
What drove you to invent the Offside system, which you patented, and what do you think of the offside rule itself?”
Antoon Soetens:
“Inventions are not made to order. Inventing is 10 seconds of inspiration and years of perspiration. I always analyze situations and in an op? Or did you later turn to FIFA or other authorities again?”
Antoon Soetens:
“No, in 2003 I discovered the structural flaw in the enforcement of the offside rule.
Being an inventor and having the knowledge of research, I was left with the wry feeling of the many variables involved in determining the offside rule.
There had to be an inaccuracy somewhere, but where… When I woke up in the morning I saw that assistant running through my room every time…
One day I am standing on my terrace, which is covered with tiles and where there are some flower pots.
I stand on the line of the joint of the tiles and I imagine that this is the line of the penultimate defender and I imagine that the ball is hidden behind the flower pot (the players). If I want to see the moment of play of the ball I have to move but I can't because I have to follow the position of the penultimate defender.
Conclusion: there is an impossible task in the game rule!
This discovery gave me greater pleasure than the invention, for no one had thought of it or looked for it. How this structural flaw was never noticed is beyond me, tens of millions of assistants have worked with it and billions of people have seen it, but no one found or saw the fundamental flaw.
I immediately wrote to FIFA with the happy news and the response was:
“We have forwarded your interesting comments to the relevant bodies for analysis.”
Signed: Garcia Aranda.
His reaction shows that he was also completely surprised, "the relevant bodies" is the International Football Association Board of FIFA, which supervise the rules of the game.
My investigation was completed, now FIFA had to take action because I provided proof that the assistant is treating his assignment in an unreasonable way. If he has an impossible assignment he must report it to the referee, but he does not and he makes a decision according to his feeling.
“Feeling” is not an allowed means of controlling something exactly, so it can influence the match. In my letters declaring FIFA in default, I referred to their responsibility, but their lawyers refuted this without specified explanation.
The only solution was to inform the European Commission, the fraud department OLAF because there was cheating involved, the match could be faked by the assistant because of his unreasonable behavior.
OLAF instructed me to write to the Federations of each country, as they were responsible as they organize the competitions and apply rules.
(TobSport:) “So, did you write to national federations?”
Antoon Soetens:
“Since I am Belgian, I could only declare the KBVB in default. In response I received "any rules must be accepted" and that "further letters would not be answered"
The KNVB, FFF, and many others England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland… and even the USA were also written to and defaulted but no one answered. There was a clear agreement.
Since I was aware of an infringement of the law, I was obliged to inform the Court thereof. A Court case was initiated against the KBVB (2005), decisions were made and 3 months before the hearing my lawyer returned the file. (reason: an invalid reason)
I started pleading myself and the President, a lady, very much appreciated my initiative. But to date, I have not been officially notified of the verdict. If I lose the Court Case in First Instance due to incorrect legal wording of the error, I can still appeal.
We are now in 2009 and nothing has changed yet, although the solution is obvious. “Whoever sends a signal first, sends the truth.” Until now, football is not a correct sport because a rule of the game is not correct. Civil rights are being violated, an untenable situation.”
5. (TobSport:) “What do you think of the attitude of the official bodies in football towards change in general and your Offside system in particular?”
Antoon Soetens:
“One has to remain consistent when making changes. If an extra assistant is appointed who has to check how many seconds a player remains on the ground, then one must also appoint an extra assistant who can determine when the ball is played at crucial moments in the game, so that the offside rule can be determined correctly , because here is a goal in the air! After all, the goal of football is to score goals!
It follows from my proof that one does not have the means to determine the offside rule and/or that the assistant treats this rule unreasonably. Since the official football bodies FIFA and UEFA are aware of the discovered flaw and do nothing, they manipulate the football l happen. But the truth is not being communicated to the players, clubs and supporters. This allows the unreasonable and illegal offside rule to still be used.
With the current means of communication, this situation is untenable and the protest will suddenly erupt. In fact, each country's federation has to protest to FIFA and/or UEFA as they are forced to apply an illegal rule of the game. I don't understand why the world's largest sports association, FIFA, is being r***d, especially when the solution is obvious.
Solution:
I donate my idea to FIFA, free of all rights, for the sake of sport.
This clears the way for a more correct way of refereeing in football. Players, clubs and supporters can express their gratitude in one way or another.”
6. (TobSport:) ”How do you see the impact of introducing your Offside system into the
football?"
Antoon Soetens:
“The impact will have the same effect as the video solution in tennis: ball inside or outside (the Hawk Eye system, ed.). The frustrations of the players and audience will disappear, because they now know that they have the means to control it. Senseless discussions and riots will be reduced to a minimum because football will now become a fair sport.”
7. (TobSport:) “How was the testing of the system by the Spanish federation and what is the current state of the system and its promotion in the media?”
Antoon Soetens:
“The purpose of the organized test in Valencia (Spain) was to test a variant: Can the referee determine the moment of playing the ball, instead of a fourth assistant?
However, after 30 minutes, the referee stopped the game and declared that he had lost control of the other rules. The concentration for the moment of play required too much attention and the referee no longer saw the other mistakes. Logically! Conclusion: the fourth assistant is indispensable.
After the tests I found the flaw in the game rule (2003). At first FIFA responded with interest (Garcia Aranda), but more news never came. Since then I have been ignored in every way.”
8. (TobSport:) “Do you see any more potential improvements in today's top football?”
Antoon Soetens:
“With the fourth assistant, the other rules will also be better controlled, because this part of the terrain was poorly controlled. For example: ball over the goal line or sideline. The fourth assistant can move freely so this can be a significant improvement.
Other technical improvements will not come any time soon because with every other rule one has the means to control them. One must be able to accept a human error. The best referee cannot be used in all matches.
On a physical level, my invention of “ideal health” can serve the players (and all athletes). These will have a better condition and concentration and muscle pains and strains and other injuries will significantly decrease. A trainer or facilitators will be able to check the fitness of each player at any time (check pain points and fine-tune the human computer).”
9. (TobSport:) “You have even more sports patents to your name. What interests you in the unwritten marriage between sport and technology and why do you apply your knowledge to the world of sport?”
Antoon Soetens:
“I check every movement and I question everything, including the material used.
At the golf, my attention had turned to the golf ball. The ball has been dented so many times that there is no longer room to play the ball correctly on the tee and putt.
Touching a rib repeatedly can cause the ball to go in a different direction, especially on a soft put. The tangent plane of a sphere with a plane is a point. So brought
I recommend 6 dent-free pitches, 4 in the center circle and 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom, but the golf federation has not accepted this, reason unknown.”
10. (TobSport:) “What else are you doing these days and how do you earn your
sandwich?"
Antoon Soetens:
“Since 2 years, all my attention and energy has been devoted to the discovery of 'ideal health'. With this I turn the world upside down, because I have discovered that one must first restore the human computer and then the machines (the organs).
I have discovered which signals our biological system indicates when the computer is out of order (disorder) and I have discovered how to restore these signals. Nature brings the solution, logically too, because man is part of nature.
A revolution. I hereby prove that one can avoid getting sick, because a perfectly tuned biological system withstands practically all attacks (diseases). Furthermore, I can cure 70% of the diseases without fever (physical and mental) and even cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer. A person with breast cancer was cured by this method: officially confirmed.
I call for help, because the possibilities are great, tracking down socially dangerous people is also an option.
If our computer works perfectly then we have an ideal blood flow and functioning of the lymphatic system. The machines, our organs, then get the perfect products and our system will function optimally as provided by our DNA (including the intellectual). The controller of the computer clears obstructions in the veins! This can avoid muscle aches and gout and many other discomforts.
Healing with drugs, which are industrially manufactured, does not make sense. They do not contain the parameters that nature has to accept (security codes are not respected). Medicines are palliatives. The proof is the number of side effects of taking drugs. Furthermore, an unprecedented medium is being processed, not a single biological cell is known to date! Surely one wouldn't entertain a computer if one knew 0% of all elements?
The logic of my discovery brings a quick healing and without side effects. I use the correct plants in the place that our computer indicates (invisible, but palpable when pressed). Nature has provided everything, only we have to look in the logical direction.
The good news was communicated to the Prime Ministers and Minister of Health in Belgium. On 23.03.09, Dr. Benedetto Saraceno of the W.H.O. (World Health Organization), the head of Mental Diseases, interested in my theory and results, but he needs to negotiate further with federal agencies.
A collaboration is welcome, since 14 years I have invested everything in the interest of others.
“My life is a passion, that is my greatest merit.”
Sources and contact
www.HealthyMeToo.org
antoon.soetens@outlook.com
edition 22 07 2022
