Don't get me wrong, I applaud good sportsmanship, but that was just a nonsense in my book.

In a world of greed and cynicism, it was a bizarre oasis of fair play.

And I was happy when FIFA cleared up the whole business and concluded it was up to the referee to decide whether to stop play or not.

That decision has not completely eradicated the practice from the game, but there are far fewer instances nowadays, which has to be a good thing.

However, it happened on Saturday in Halifax Town's game at Rushden & Diamonds and what occurred after Darryn Stamp had returned the ball to home keeper Dale Roberts completely confused me.

Roberts is hardly twinkle toes when it comes to ball control as he showed by allowing a Dean Howell pass to run under his foot, enabling Craig Nelthorpe to give the Shaymen a third minute lead.

But he was under no pressure at all when Stamp threw the ball into the Rushden penalty area.

Unfortunately for him, he mis-controlled for a second time in the game and the ball clearly crossed the dead ball line for what would have been a Halifax corner.

The linesman - the same one who gave a penalty from 50-plus yards away and missed Michael Rankine's later foul throw that led to the Diamonds' equaliser - was right in line.

But he declined to raise his flag even though the ball was at least six inches over the line, and that is being generous.

Play continued and no more was said.

But what I want to know is whether or not the linesman has that kind of discretion, allowing play to continue even though the ball was clearly out, or whether is was just another mistake?

The travelling Halifax fans, seated in line with the incident, protested, confirming that I was not just seeing things.

It was just a shame that Stamp had not thrown the ball towards the goal and the ball had crossed the line there.

What would the linesman have done in that instance?

Given the decisions he made before and after, he would probably have turned a blind eye.

Whatever, it only reinforces my view that you should be free to put the ball out of play for a teammate, but just don't expect to get it back.

WHY has there been so much shock and surprise following the Premier League's announcement that it wants to take games around the world?

The whole league is based on making money - fans are referred to as customers - and the clubs will coin it in when the plan comes to fruition, which it will.

The initial estimate is that one extra game for each of the 20 top flight clubs will generate tens of millions of pounds for 'the game'.

And the clubs are queueing up to play.

Strange how no one in 'the game' has stepped in to help out the sport's latest casualty, Bournemouth, for whom just £3million would be enough to ensure survival.