New Offside Rule Proposed

[Bebestation]

Feels like a horrible change.

You can be 95% off but just plant a 1mm of your foot in line to stay on.

Im not sure - I feel like a bit of old school football might return - deep defenders, strong physical heading defenders, possibly return of the counter attack compared to possesion football being the best possible.

It may not be pretty - but you never know how it balances out.

 

[Brightonian]

There's still a line, and the need to measure to the millimetre theoretically whether someone is or isn't over it.

This just tips the advantage slightly further towards strikers and away from defenders. Why? Plenty of goals in modern football already. Why make changes for no reason whatsoever?

 

[Bebestation]

There's still a line, and the need to measure to the millimetre theoretically whether someone is or isn't over it.

This just tips the advantage slightly further towards strikers and away from defenders. Why? Plenty of goals in modern football already. Why make changes for no reason whatsoever?

I think it will also make it easier for the REFs to see so it makes less use of VAR.

 

[2 man midfield]

Just go back to the linesman using his best judgement so we can all get on with the football.

This

 

[stevoc]

Feels like a horrible change.

You can be 95% off but just plant a 1mm of your foot in line to stay on.

Surely better than being 95% onside and having a goal ruled out because your kneecap was 2mm offside?

I think before we all get upset at this rule change. We should think why the offside rule was introduced in the first place. It was to stop goal hanging.

Once we got to the stage where the rule was chalking off goals because a players head, knee or toes were slightly offside. Then we'd obviously lost sight of the purpose of the rule.

 

[Dominos]

Looks like this is moving forward.

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Don't like it.

It basically means the defender has to drop deeper and deeper and to truly be goal-side of the attacker so they don't have the run on him.

Kills the high defensive line, kills the offside trap.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

It's not an ideal solution, but neither is the current one that often sees goals ruled out for a player having a fraction of his body past a defender.

At least this rule would see higher scoring games and more excitement, plus it's good for players who can't seem to stay onside like many of ours

 

[ScholesyTheWise]

Feels like a horrible change.

You can be 95% off but just plant a 1mm of your foot in line to stay on.

Yeah. feels like a 179.9 degrees change to the opposite direction of today's rule, with the problems staying essentially the same.
The heel of the attacker will be scrutinized, whether it's 1mm or 5mm in line with the shoulder of the defender.
It's gonna create more goals, which I guess is one of the ideas here.

If it's going to make scoring goals alot easier, and for results like 3-2 being as common as today's 1-0 or 2-1, you wonder how we'd feel about that.

 

[arnie_ni]

Just use feet ffs

 

[Dominos]

It's not an ideal solution, but neither is the current one that often sees goals ruled out for a player having a fraction of his body past a defender.

At least this rule would see higher scoring games and more excitement, plus it's good for players who can't seem to stay onside like many of ours

I think we're underestimating how drastic of a change this is. It surely kills the high defensive lines as it means attackers can be significantly ahead of defenders and have the run on them whilst still being onside. Defenders have to drop deeper and deeper to counteract this so they can stay goal-side of the opposition as they realise catching them offside is not really viable anymore.

 

[top1whoisman]

It's not an ideal solution, but neither is the current one that often sees goals ruled out for a player having a fraction of his body past a defender.

At least this rule would see higher scoring games and more excitement, plus it's good for players who can't seem to stay onside like many of ours

Not a given. As many posters have already mentioned, this could result in more teams defending deeper and games actually becoming less exciting.

 

[Fabio Rochemback]

My preference has always been that VAR can't draw lines on the pitch or spend ages rewatching the play. Let them watch it a couple of times and if it's not an obvious enough mistake that they don't spot it, stick with the original decision.

 

[Dan_F]

feck sake, we finally buy a sweeper keeper and get rid of Maguire, and high lines will be a thing of the past.

 

[horsechoker]

Can't the team wear a sort of laser bracelet which connects them via laser and once the laser is broken then it's offside?

How hard can that be to implement?

 

[Cloud7]

The offside rule has become a bit ridiculous these days in my opinion. It was most clearly seen at the World Cup where you would have players being called offside for a kneecap or a millimeter of a players foot.

Surely that goes against what the offside rule should be about?

No idea what the proper solution is, but if this means there’s less of that then I’m for it.

 

[Skills]

The offside rule has become a bit ridiculous these days in my opinion. It was most clearly seen at the World Cup where you would have players being called offside for a kneecap or a millimeter of a players foot.

Surely that goes against what the offside rule should be about?

No idea what the proper solution is, but if this means there’s less of that then I’m for it.

That's not exactly clear. The original intent of the rule may have been to stop goal hanging.

But in modern football, it's actually used as a legitimate defensive tactic through the offside trap. And for it to be a legitimate defensive tactic, it needs to be implemented precisely or it makes the offside trap a farce.

 

[JagUTD]

This might reduce the high defensive line just as when we are getting a sweeper keeper.

I imagine a certain professor of footballing heritage is in favour over this.

 

[BobFromParva]

Can't the team wear a sort of laser bracelet which connects them via laser and once the laser is broken then it's offside?

How hard can that be to implement?

Laser isn’t the answer but you’re quite right. All it would take would be a tiny little tracker in each boot of each player and you could pin point exactly where each players feet were at any given moment. With one in the ball too you could map every nanosecond of every game in 3D, and it isn’t even something that needs to be invented as it would just be new use of currently tried and tested technology.

Though I kinda doubt that PIGMOL would support it’s use as anything that reduces subjectivity / guesswork / preferable decision making et al takes away from their ability to ‘manage‘ games and the asian betting markets would be very disappointed if they allowed that to happen ;-)

 

[JagUTD]

I think in the modern game this will expose an entire generation of defenders.

 

[The Red Thinker]

Wenger needs to get out of his chalet and stay of the Chardonnay because this rule is so fecking dumb. Isn’t the head a scoring part of the body? So if my feet are in line but my head is ahead then am I offside?

 

[Cloud7]

That's not exactly clear. The original intent of the rule may have been to stop goal hanging.

But in modern football, it's actually used as a legitimate defensive tactic through the offside trap. And for it to be a legitimate defensive tactic, it needs to be implemented precisely or it makes the offside trap a farce.

And has that tactic actually made the game better as a spectacle? It’s condensed the game into a smaller space and made less room for things to happen. If this makes things more entertaining then I am all for it.

 

[Skills]

Laser isn’t the answer but you’re quite right. All it would take would be a tiny little tracker in each boot of each player and you could pin point exactly where each players feet were at any given moment. With one in the ball too you could map every nanosecond of every game in 3D, and it isn’t even something that needs to be invented as it would just be new use of currently tried and tested technology.

Though I kinda doubt that PIGMOL would support it’s use as anything that reduces subjectivity / guesswork / preferable decision making et al takes away from their ability to ‘manage‘ games and the asian betting markets would be very disappointed if they allowed that to happen ;-)

Would be too easy to tamper with if you put it in the players gear.

Cameras could probably do it in a few years. Just need fast enough processing in real time.

 

[Mb194dc]

Definitely should be tested, entire body probably overdoing it. Arms shouldn't count. They could also test just a big margin of error like 0.5 of a meter or similar and anything in that considered on.

There's a margin error with current tech depending on frame when ball is played etc. Very narrow offsides are nonsense.

 

[Skills]

And has that tactic actually made the game better as a spectacle? It’s condensed the game into a smaller space and made less room for things to happen. If this makes things more entertaining then I am all for it.

Don't know - that's a seperate debate. But I'd say goal totals are generally up and teams at all levels are trying to play progressive/attacking football - that shows maybe it is for the good.

My main argument is against the idea that the offside rule should be implemented loosely/poorly/imprecisely. That, to me is stupid. If there's a rule you need to officiate it correctly, or else a legitimate tactic is punished because of poor officiating. That should never happen.

 

[Pronewbie]

Whatever's easier to train the AI on, I suppose, so we can have decisions made within 5s - while also ensuring it's easy enough for assistants to make manual calls outside of the top leagues.

 

[Chipper]

I think it will also make it easier for the REFs to see so it makes less use of VAR.

Really? I think it will be used more if this came in.

Right now if you see someone's body is half a yard beyond the last defender you can spot that with the eye. With this it would be a case of, "well, I can see his body is beyond the last defender, but is he too far beyond or not, what about his back leg? let's look at VAR".

 

[hasanejaz88]

Absolute bonkers rule to be honest, as if defending wasn't difficult enough already with how the game is officiated.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

I wouldn’t be agaisnt seeing it in action. Yes in my theory it might push defensive lines deeper but that then allows for greater space in midfield and defence so it’s swings and roundabouts. I think the way the rule is currently and the modern high lines, the game is far less entertaining than it was 20 years ago, wouldn’t mind trying something to change that!

 

[choiboyx012]

I like it. Either the whole body in front, or whole body with/behind the defender. I don’t like this nitpicking of which body parts the line is drawn. If not either extreme, then just go with playing advantage for attacker.

 

[Skills]

Really? I think it will be used more if this came in.

Right now if you see someone's body is half a yard beyond the last defender you can spot that with the eye. With this it would be a case of, "well, I can see his body is beyond the last defender, but is he too far beyond or not, what about his back leg? let's look at VAR".

I don't imagine the linesmen calling offside much. They'll leave it to VAR to overturn the goal.

 

[Chipper]

I don't imagine the linesmen calling offside much. They'll leave it to VAR to overturn the goal.

Same.

As an aside where would the linesman now stand? In line with furthest forward attacker rather than in line with the deepest defender (well 2nd deepest)? Might require that little shift so they could see better, at least I think it would in my mind if this is now what they're being asked to determine. But then they could be way out of position if they did that should that forward not end up active in a move so probably not.

 

[Jericho]

I like it. Either the whole body in front, or whole body with/behind the defender. I don’t like this nitpicking of which body parts the line is drawn. If not either extreme, then just go with playing advantage for attacker.

There will always be nitpicking. Determining whether or not it is "either extreme" will be nitpicked. You'll have the same problem when a player is one fraction of a mm away from his whole body being on/offside.

If what you want is accuracy then it's actually fine as it is now. If what you want is "Ah, close enough, we'll give to ya" then you'll never be satisfied.

 

[Oranges038]

The striker should just have to have both feet onside. End of story. Doesn’t matter about upper body position, if they are leaning offside. As long as both feet are onside, it’s onside. Simple, fair, balanced, effective.

Makes the most sense.

 

[Devil77]

The offside rule has become a bit ridiculous these days in my opinion. It was most clearly seen at the World Cup where you would have players being called offside for a kneecap or a millimeter of a players foot.

Surely that goes against what the offside rule should be about?

No idea what the proper solution is, but if this means there’s less of that then I’m for it.

The offside rule itself is ok. It’s the introduction of VAR that is slowly killing the game. Just go back to the linesman raising the flag. If it’s not raised, the goal stands. Worked for a 100 years.

 

[Oly Francis]

The offside rule itself is ok. It’s the introduction of VAR that is slowly killing the game. Just go back to the linesman raising the flag. If it’s not raised, the goal stands. Worked for a 100 years.

We're a couple of years away from being able to have 3D rendering and a sensor in the ball to draw instantly a perfect line at the right moment. It has already been tested at the workd cup and it works.

This new rule is a terrible idea, watch for teams to collect fast paced players that can start with a one meter advantage instead of more technical players. All defenses will have to drop deep and you will drastically decrease the tactival variety between teams.

 

[Anustart89]

There's something odd about being able to see irrefutable evidence that the guy's well ahead of the last defender only for the referees to go "Goal!". It's like the clear and obvious thing where everyone looks at an obvious red card (like Fabinho) and the refs say "nah yellow mate"

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

This is too big of a change. You'd need to be the thickest player of all time to get caught offside with this new interpretation. There's hardly ever any offsides where the entire player's body is offside.

I'd imagine Klopp is having sleepless nights with this new interpretation. His Liverpool teams have extensively used a high defensive line and relied on VAR to catch opponents marginally offside. They won't be able to do that anymore.

Actually, maybe it's a good thing!

 

[Eric_the_Red99]

This just seems to be a return to a previous interpretation of offside where there had to be ‘daylight’ between the attacker and defender. I personally thought that was the best version of the offside law, but the fact is that wherever you draw the offside line, there will always be plenty of cases that are very close to that line - something is either onside or offside, so you have to draw the line somewhere (unless you want to create a grey area in the middle with refs/assistant refs allowed to use their discretion.)

But the real problem with offside isn’t the current interpretation, or VAR, or even the crappy, inconsistent officials - the real problem is this constant obsession with fiddling with the law every season, and ahead of every major tournament. FIFA should just make up their damn minds and leave the law as it is for at least 10 years. I’d be very much in favour of only allowing changes to rules like this at set intervals, which would stop this constant chopping and changing.

 

[bosskeano]

for those who are a bit older....this is how the rule was back in the 90's. It wasn't until the turn of the century to where they made the offside rule so easy to be a defender

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

They just make the rule worse and worse. Its like they want to eliminate defending all together.