Which was the best era for football laws?

[Physiocrat]

The complete idiocy of the McTominay "foul" on Son reminded me to think about which footballing era had the best laws.

I am thinking mostly in terms of fouls and offside. I would say probably the late 1990s as the flair players had decent protection but the game was still allowed to be physical and strong challenges weren't automatically fouls as they are today.

I also liked the offside laws of "interfering with play" back then. It wasn't so rigid that anybody ahead of the play was offside but didn't allow the phases argument which allowed RVN to basically goal hang beyond the oppositions defence and still score for Holland when in previous years it would be clear offside.

What say you all?

 

[Zen86]

Early 00s was probably the right balance of protection and physicality for me. The football "hard man" persona started to die out as the sport became increasingly soft in the years after. There was some nice football played at the time, but players had to be resilient and handle being roughed up a bit (ie us laying into Arsenal).

 

[Zehner]

I like it now. The first years of VAR were a pain in the ass but I have nothing to complain right now. Sometimes the decision could happen a bit faster though. Hand balls were really annoying two seasons ago but they got that right now, too.

Moreover, I like that they call small fouls. At high pace, small contacts can be enough to make you stumble and mess up a finish, pass or dribble.

 

[Cal?]

I still think VAR is for the best, we'd definitely have beaten Porto back in 2004, Barca wouldn't have made in CL final in 2009. We could easily be on 5 CLs if it was impleneted back in the 00s

 

[Lay]

Whenever they got rid of the back pass rule. What a terrible rule that was

 

[Melbourne Red]

The football's the most fluid and technically adroit I've seen in my 20-25 years, I'm happy with the soft officiating on the whole.

They need to give fewer penalties though.

 

[reddyornot]

90's
1890's

 

[Physiocrat]

Whenever they got rid of the back pass rule. What a terrible rule that was

So to clarify, you liked it when the keeper could pick up the ball after being passed to by one of their team mates?

 

[Lay]

So to clarify, you liked it when the keeper could pick up the ball after being passed to by one of their team mates?

No, worded wrongly. I hated the back pass rule, I like that they got rid of it.

 

[Physiocrat]

No, worded wrongly. I hated the back pass rule, I like that they got rid of it.

Gotcha. I don't remember that really as I am too young, it does seem like a really easy out for the defenders to pass back to the keeper. I don't know anyone who has ever wanted to go back to it unlike other law changes

 

[Gio]

The football's the most fluid and technically adroit I've seen in my 20-25 years, I'm happy with the soft officiating on the whole.

They need to give fewer penalties though.

Agreed. I like how the creative players can thrive in the modern game. It’s such a game-changer compared to the old system where defenders had licence to maim repeatedly, and the spectacle was so much more grim as a result.

Up till about 3-4 years ago at least. Too many tails wagging the dog giving us a right clusterfeck at the moment.

 

[Andeva]

I’d say 1962-1973.

 

[Physiocrat]

I'd be interested in what you guys think @harms @Enigma_87 @GodShaveTheQueen @Chesterlestreet

 

[Enigma_87]

I'd be interested in what you guys think @harms @Enigma_87 @GodShaveTheQueen @Chesterlestreet

To me after introducing the back-pass rule and generally the 90's - 92 circa. The conditions didn't favor as much attackers as it is today and in the same time it wasn't possible to get away with murder like 20-30 years before that where defenders used to maul attackers without getting carded too often.

I'm not huge fan of VAR - interruption of play, room for interpretation, a lot more penos and so forth.

 

[Physiocrat]

To me after introducing the back-pass rule and generally the 90's - 92 circa. The conditions didn't favor as much attackers as it is today and in the same time it wasn't possible to get away with murder like 20-30 years before that where defenders used to maul attackers without getting carded too often.

I'm not huge fan of VAR - interruption of play, room for interpretation, a lot more penos and so forth.

I generally agree with that.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

I like it now. The first years of VAR were a pain in the ass but I have nothing to complain right now. Sometimes the decision could happen a bit faster though. Hand balls were really annoying two seasons ago but they got that right now, too.

Moreover, I like that they call small fouls. At high pace, small contacts can be enough to make you stumble and mess up a finish, pass or dribble.

Are you posting from 2025 somehow?

Because in 2021; Handballs are still a joke & Small fouls are never called.

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

No, worded wrongly. I hated the back pass rule, I like that they got rid of it.

I think it’s just your phrasing, but The back pass rule is what we have now. They made a rule. They didn’t remove one.

 

[Zehner]

Are you posting from 2025 somehow?

Because in 2021; Handballs are still a joke & Small fouls are never called.

Only my impressions of course. I think they fecked up big time intwo quarter finals of the CL this week (Can's hand ball, Mbappe's wrong offside call) but in the Bundesliga, at least from the games I watched, it's actually working quite well now. But in general, I think the VAR has reduced the amount of wrong decisions. As far as I know, that's also what the analytics say.

Just a guess but I believe that big clubs are more affected by the introduction of the VAR because they've been so used to being advantaged by the referees after decades without it.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Current. Var is the best thing introduced in football

 

[tugger]

I’d say the 1840s. It was the gentlemanly thing to tell the keeper which way you were going to go from the penalty spot. There was also a forced break in play if a grouse flew overhead, when players would take it in turns to kick their boots at it. Any hits that registered would count as 3 goals. The referees wore cummerbunds at all times and still never booked Fernandinho.

 

[11 forwards]

90's
1890's

1897 – The laws specify, for the first time, the number of players on each team (11) and the duration of each match (90 minutes, unless agreed otherwise).

Yeah, they had a couple interesting ideas.