Get rid of off-side rule - Marco van Basten

[youngrell]

Funnily enough for a few years I played 3 aside with my mates quite regularly. We had no goalies, small goals but we *did* have an outside rule.

Some of the most fun I've had playing football.

Regarding your no offside in 5 aside games, it's a good point, but 5 aside is much smaller. Your defence and attack are much closer together. In 11 aside there is a big distance between attack and defence which will be streched further by removing offside.

I dunno man. All got trying it but don't really want it to catch on

That’s the point though, I think. At the moment, particularly in big club vs small club games, the match is played almost entirely between the half way line and the defending teams penalty box, making exciting football very hard to come by.

Open that space up by almost double and players have the freedom to really do something.

To be honest, it’s really hard to tell how it goes because it’s so alien to us all. But I would love to see it tried at least.

 

[youngrell]

[


I think the bolded is just due to the spirit of the game in my experience, we may not play offsides but everyone knows you can’t just go goal hanging as it’d be pretty shitty.

I personally think no offsides would change the game drastically. The forward would have to stay up near the 18yard line, not static but hovering there, why not if he’s allowed there leaving only the keeper to beat, he’d have to take advantage of that. A defender or two would need to stay with him, which would lead to problems like a poster above mentioned with regards to different skills becoming needed for new roles.

Partly the spirit but also partly because your own team would be pissed if your only contribution is to goal hang. They would practically be playing with 10 men. Isn’t like to think the centre forward would still be the focal point for the team, just with a bit more space to work in.

I just think it’s an interesting concept I’d like to see trialed.

 

[MinGin]

I agree that stop the clock when VAR is checking rather than the ball goes out of play. Time wasting is a tactic when a team is leading

 

[shahzy]

Maybe relax the offside rule so it isnt as anal like a toenail past the defender is deemed offside but completely scrapping it i dont see how that will lead to good football. For example: i am a manager of a newly promoted side going up against Man City this weekened, i am going to put Maroune Fellaini in the corner flag area of Man city's defence so when my team gets the ball back we boot it up top to him and have 1 guy who is my most skillful player hovering around him for the layoff's.

Doesn't seem that great if all it becomes is hoofball. Maybe we might see more goals, but do you really want to see goals when its from hoof ball?

 

[Ian Reus]

Big Sam will be off to manage Madrid in a few years if they got abolished the offside rule.

 

[shahzy]

This. Basically get rid of VAR.

The game wasn’t broken to begin with, in fact it was perfect, which is what made it the biggest sport on the planet.

Not sure about get rid of it entirely but lessen its tolerances. for example if its 5 metres offside and the ref misses it, then call it. If its 2cm and the guys toenail is past the defenders, it shouldnt be used.

 

[youngrell]

Maybe relax the offside rule so it isnt as anal like a toenail past the defender is deemed offside but completely scrapping it i dont see how that will lead to good football. For example: i am a manager of a newly promoted side going up against Man City this weekened, i am going to put Maroune Fellaini in the corner flag area of Man city's defence so when my team gets the ball back we boot it up top to him and have 1 guy who is my most skillful player hovering around him for the layoff's.

Doesn't seem that great if all it becomes is hoofball. Maybe we might see more goals, but do you really want to see goals when its from hoof ball?

What’s the difference between how they approach the game now? The hoof goes an extra 15-20 yards?

 

[Danny Roberts]

I'm definitely up for some trial games. As far as I know the offside rule was only introduced as teams used to virtually assault the goalkeepers whenever the ball went near them, not because of goalhanging how it is traditionally understood.

 

[ROFLUTION]

VAR is a bigger entertainment killer

 

[calodo2003]

Have some sort of overlap law (if scoring parts of the body are the overlapping when the ball is struck, the attacker is not offsides). Seems the simplest solution.

 

[Toblerone92]

Of all the complex and seemingly unnecessary rules in sport, I would say the offside rule is one of the easiest to grasp. If you can’t understand it, then go watch something else.

 

[RUCK4444]

Not sure about get rid of it entirely but lessen its tolerances. for example if its 5 metres offside and the ref misses it, then call it. If its 2cm and the guys toenail is past the defenders, it shouldnt be used.

The problem with that though is what will be the cut off point? This was the inherent problem with VAR when it was first suggested.

If a player is 4 foot offside and its reviewed and called offside but then an opposition player is allowed a goal when he was 3 foot offside there would be uproar.

This is why I’ve never been a fan of VAR, not because I’m against the involvement of technology but more so that it’s implementation is impossible without the extreme overanalysing we are seeing now in the pursuit of ‘fairness.’

 

[WeePat]

Hockey does have offside. It's a different version of it of course but they do have an offside rule.

 

[Spaghetti]

Get rid of the hyphen in off-side - Spaghetti

 

[Ajr]

Is there a way to do VAR in real time and have a linesman operate it constantly?

 

[dinostar77]

Having no offside rule would lead to some pretty ugly long ball football.

Great player but an idiotic idea.

 

[GMoore23]

Keep the offside rule but rule it that only a players feet have to be onside.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Rashford and James would be delighted

 

[Hughes35]

No offside would be really bad. Every team would just leave a player right up the pitch to goal hang.

Would mean there was a tonne of space to just play keep ball..... Would be tedious.

Just scrapping VAR is the best thing they could do.

 

[elmo]

Always felt that football would eventually count goals from outside the penalty box for twice the value to reflect how it's harder to score from there like basketball with their 3 point shots.

 

[Ajr]

Always felt that football would eventually count goals from outside the penalty box for twice the value to reflect how it's harder to score from there like basketball with their 3 point shots.

Three goal line

 

[WeePat]

3) Issuing 'Green' Sin Bin cards to players who commit tactical fouls. This would cover those circumstances were a player chops a player down who is breaking into a dangerous position. These situations warrant more than a Yellow card, which is no real punishment considering only a tiny percentage of footballers pick up two yellows in a game. If teams knew they would lose a player for 15 minutes, these tactical fouls would stop.

Playing with 10 men doesn't have the same impact on a team in football as it does in the NHL. I'm sure teams would prepare for that eventuality and accept being a man down for 15 minutes in exchange for stopping a clear goal-scoring opportunity. If we adjust it slightly to cynical tactical fouls = offending player plus one being sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

 

[Zlatan 7]

I think a good idea would be to start a new sport with eleven players, no offsides, sinbins, 30 minute halves with stop clock and hooter, VAR with hot dog adverts and even an oval pitch to stop time wasting in the corners, But just leave football alone.

 

[Kaos]

Rashford would probably win the Ballon d'Or within a season, im all for it.

 

[matsdf]

I like the idea of judging the offside on whose foot (or boot more precisely) is closest to the goal line. Sure you will still have millimetre decisions that will cause annoyance, but it does seem less random than all the lines drawn from knees and armpits.

 

[cjj]

I like the idea of judging the offside on whose foot (or boot more precisely) is closest to the goal line. Sure you will still have millimetre decisions that will cause annoyance, but it does seem less random than all the lines drawn from knees and armpits.

You'd have defenders wearing grass green boots to loophole it

 

[Beachryan]

I still think the simplest solution is the best: keep offside rule, keep VAR but only 1 viewing, in real-time is permitted.

Applying different rules in VAR vs on pitch officiating is absolutely against the spirit of the game and sheer idiocy from all involved. Football officiating has NEVER been about black and white decisions (goal line tech aside) and has always been in the opinion of the official.

 

[dal]

Well why not adjust it so you can only be offside if a ball is played from inside your own half, or you can only be offside if it’s played within 2/3s of the field.

Tbf I like it how it is now with VAR. Offside is offside even if it’s a millimetre.

They just need to develop something that goes off straight away, like a huge horn inside the stadium, that way there’s isn’t any premature celebrations.

 

[The White Pele]

I think scrapping offside completely would take away from the technical aspect of the game, with lesser teams having the option to leave an attacker up which then creates a lot more space for both teams.

A more pragmatic solution would be to have a physical line in each half of the pitch, splitting the pitch into quarters. The rule could then be that you can not make a forward pass to a player in either of the two attacking quarters if the defending team has no players in that zone. This eliminates the potential of big hoofs upfield to unmarked players. It would also be easier from a VAR point of view as you wouldn’t need an imaginary line - the decision could be based on whether the attacking player has grounded a foot on the line or past the line.

 

[Buster15]

I have never been a fan of the offside rule.
What is it trying to achieve.
At least try offside only from the penalty box line.
The benefit of that is that there would be a defined line across the pitch from which to determine offside or not.

 

[Grinner]

I'll say it again and again, get rid of the foul throw rule as it's fecking stupid. You can chuck a ball in anyway you like.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

People always brush these of suggestions aside but I think it would be worth trying. Football on a core level is more entertaining when there is space and you can encourage players to attack 1 vs 1. Modern tactics have all but removed the risk element to the game and taken so much joy away. I get that the goals scored argument works against that theory to some people, but I'd argue it doesn't, as just because teams scores more goals doesn't mean they are as exciting or attractive to watch. From my own personal view, something needs to give, the game is too tactical, possessional football is too dominant and quite frankly horrendously boring, with more space all of that gets challenged further and new tactics will emerge. I'd even be for the introduction of bonus points for scoring more than 3 or something like that to encourage all out attack at times.

 

[MrMarcello]

Hockey does have offside. It's a different version of it of course but they do have an offside rule.

I find the NHL eliminating the ludicrous two-line rule was the best move made in years and adding a second ref. Don't know about other leagues and international play.

 

[adexkola]

People always brush these of suggestions aside but I think it would be worth trying. Football on a core level is more entertaining when there is space and you can encourage players to attack 1 vs 1. Modern tactics have all but removed the risk element to the game and taken so much joy away. I get that the goals scored argument works against that theory to some people, but I'd argue it doesn't, as just because teams scores more goals doesn't mean they are as exciting or attractive to watch. From my own personal view, something needs to give, the game is too tactical, possessional football is too dominant and quite frankly horrendously boring, with more space all of that gets challenged further and new tactics will emerge. I'd even be for the introduction of bonus points for scoring more than 3 or something like that to encourage all out attack at times.

How

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

How

Well, Mourinho holds the record for the most goals in La Liga and he never really played entertaining football. His teams have always played almost robotic even at their peak, certainly a far cry from the levels of flair that they have shown in other seasons and has been put on at other clubs. Liverpool was the most entertaining side in the world 3 seasons ago but they altered their tactics to be more conservative and ended up being a better team that went on to win the Champions League and the League title, that doesn't change the fact Klopp's most entertaining Liverpool side was the year before that.

The simple answer is that dribbling, pace, trickery, skills all contribute to a sides entertainment and fluidity more than simply the goals they score even if they often go hand in hand. It's why Peps teams will always be pretty boring to me, it's favouring perfect efficiency over spontaneity. He's proven that it's more effective (to devastating effect) but I find his brand incredibly dull to watch even back with the greatest Barca team in history. That in a nutshell is the issue with the way the game has gone for me, tactics, sports science are all about marginal gains and improving inefficiencies, but that's nowhere near as fun to watch as Ronaldinho doing a flip-flap around a player and no-look passing it to his team mate!

 

[adexkola]

Well, Mourinho holds the record for the most goals in La Liga and he never really played entertaining football. His teams have always played almost robotic even at their peak, certainly a far cry from the levels of flair that they have shown in other seasons and has been put on at other clubs. Liverpool was the most entertaining side in the world 3 seasons ago but they altered their tactics to be more conservative and ended up being a better team that went on to win the Champions League and the League title, that doesn't change the fact Klopp's most entertaining Liverpool side was the year before that.

The simple answer is that dribbling, pace, trickery, skills all contribute to a sides entertainment and fluidity more than simply the goals they score even if they often go hand in hand. It's why Peps teams will always be pretty boring to me, it's favouring perfect efficiency over spontaneity. He's proven that it's more effective (to devastating effect) but I find his brand incredibly dull to watch even back with the greatest Barca team in history. That in a nutshell is the issue with the way the game has gone for me, tactics, sports science are all about marginal gains and improving inefficiencies, but that's nowhere near as fun to watch as Ronaldinho doing a flip-flap around a player and no-look passing it to his team mate!

Good post and there's not much for me to disagree with (for one, this conversation is partly a matter of personal taste), but I am surprised you categorize Mourinho's Madrid team as such... I know a lot of people preferred their counter attacking football to Guardiola's tiki taka at the time (and even now probably)

And I loved Ronaldinho, Joga Bonito and his Barcelona of the time but I think that era is far gone unfortunately, bar drastic changes like the OP suggests. I do think we'll see cricket/NFL scores more frequently though if offsides are eliminated.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Great idea. It's a bullshit rule anyway. Even with VAR they get it wrong.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

You would see the game played very similar to basketball. No more pressing unless you're losing late. So if one team is taking a goal kick, the other team is already in their own half waiting for them. And when that team loses possession, rather than try to win it back, they will retreat to their own half. The idea would be to open the game up but it would have the opposite effect.

So rather than getting rid of offside, I'd prefer to see the rule changed or at least VAR changed. If the rule stays the same then VAR should be for clear and obvious mistakes. In other words, no lines drawn on the screen. If you can't tell with the naked eye then it's not clear and obvious and the call on the field stays.

If they still want to use lines, then I'd like to see the rule changed so there needs to be clear daylight between the attacker and defender. This was we will be saying "he was onside by a toe" rather than "he was offside by a toe"