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[Football] Should we scrap the offside rule?



studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
30,136
On the Border
There was a competition called the Dryborough Cup in Scotland in the 1970s that experimented with a variation of the offside rule. The 18 yard line was extended to the touchlines and you could only be offside within that area. Could be workable if reintroduced?
Same in England in The Watney Cup, a pre-season tournament involving the teams who scored the most goals in their division in the previous season.
There was a reason, it didn't continue, it didn't work.

From memory I think George Best spent the entire game standing just outside the 18 yard line waiting for the ball to arrive.

Can't see the point of trying to reintroduce, given we haven't seen the benefit of semi automatic offsides in the PL yet.
 




dsr-burnley

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2014
2,474
Offside should be exactly that. None of this interfering with play, second or third phase nonsense. Any player offside and the flag goes up.
I've never understood the rule about players not interfering with play. All players are taking other players out of position, creating space for other players, drawing their attention away from other parts of the pitch and so on, therefore all players are interfering in one way or another, that's why they're on the pitch.
Not good for wing play. It's entertaining watching a winger who takes it to the goal line and pulls it back for the forward to put it into the net; but that would be an automatic offside under your rule.
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,885
There's the thing though. Offside is a black-and-white rule. You can't be 'a bit offisde' - you're either offside or you're not. There are no margins.

The current VAR process for measuring is suitable, if sometimes poorly applied. If the attacker is 1 pixel ahead of the defender, they're offside*.

Introduce some new rule, e.g. "clear air", then you're just performing the same 1 pixel measurement against a different part of the attacker's body. Exactly the same again if you introduce a fixed margin or thicker measuring lines. Ultimately you're measuring pixel vs. pixel.






* yes, I appreciate offside decisions are sometimes not as simple as that. I also appreciate that 1 pixel is a finite distance, but it's pretty small...
imo change the rule to cite the purpose and spirit of the rule's intent, with wording like judgement and body line of players. don't worry about toes or even legs. or simply explicitly exclude from VAR, there is no need for it.
 


birthofanorange

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Aug 31, 2011
6,401
David Gilmour's armpit
There's the thing though. Offside is a black-and-white rule. You can't be 'a bit offisde' - you're either offside or you're not. There are no margins.

The current VAR process for measuring is suitable, if sometimes poorly applied. If the attacker is 1 pixel ahead of the defender, they're offside*.

Introduce some new rule, e.g. "clear air", then you're just performing the same 1 pixel measurement against a different part of the attacker's body. Exactly the same again if you introduce a fixed margin or thicker measuring lines. Ultimately you're measuring pixel vs. pixel.






* yes, I appreciate offside decisions are sometimes not as simple as that. I also appreciate that 1 pixel is a finite distance, but it's pretty small...
I take your point, but I cannot believe nothing can be done to improve it. Even setting a time limit for a decision (say 30 seconds for a VAR review) would be better than the current situation.
 








Quebec Seagull

Vive le football... LIBRE!
Oct 19, 2022
601
Gatineau, Québec, CANADA
sounds like I`m in minority but I`d scrap it. Hockey scrapped offside a few years ago with no ill effects !!

You're thinking of the two-line pass, which was made legal again 15-20 years ago (it was first adopted during WWII, IIRC). Offside happens when both of a player's skates cross the offensive blue line before the puck.

.
 
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GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
48,721
Gloucester
imo change the rule to cite the purpose and spirit of the rule's intent, with wording like judgement and body line of players. don't worry about toes or even legs. or simply explicitly exclude from VAR, there is no need for it.
Yes, re-write the rule, and do it properly - add in to the existing rule, "A player is offside if, in the opinion of the on-field referee (with advice from the assistant referees) he is ................ etc, etc.
VAR - keep your nose out, keep looking for foul play which the referee could have missed.
 




Albion my Albion

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 6, 2016
19,264
Indiana, USA
The problem with violence in the Netherlands is they are not able to buy AR-guns and walk into schools and shoot between 10 and 20 students like we do in America. Cause Lord knows that is the way Trump supporters handle it.
 




BN41Albion

Well-known member
Oct 1, 2017
6,720
However apparently the Dutch are thinking of trying it in their non-league. As an aside I didn't realise the problem of violence and abuse wasn't just an English problem.

You've clearly never watched/played amateur/non-league football in Latin countries! 😮
 






PILTDOWN MAN

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 15, 2004
19,383
Hurst Green
I know this often comes up when people talk about 'rule changes I'd like to see', but I've never been in favour, no, not even if it meant one less thing for VAR to pass judgement on.

However apparently the Dutch are thinking of trying it in their non-league. As an aside I didn't realise the problem of violence and abuse wasn't just an English problem.

Utter batshit mental
 


jonny.rainbow

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2005
6,823
There's the thing though. Offside is a black-and-white rule. You can't be 'a bit offisde' - you're either offside or you're not. There are no margins.

The current VAR process for measuring is suitable, if sometimes poorly applied. If the attacker is 1 pixel ahead of the defender, they're offside*.

Introduce some new rule, e.g. "clear air", then you're just performing the same 1 pixel measurement against a different part of the attacker's body. Exactly the same again if you introduce a fixed margin or thicker measuring lines. Ultimately you're measuring pixel vs. pixel.






* yes, I appreciate offside decisions are sometimes not as simple as that. I also appreciate that 1 pixel is a finite distance, but it's pretty small...
But crucially, with a ‘daylight’ change, you are giving the advantage to the attacking team leading to more goal scoring opportunities and hopefully more exciting matches.
 










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