If You Could Change One Rule In Football...

[zuricity]

There's so much that FIFA and EUFA have screwed up in recent years but if I can have one rule change it's a return to the original Offside rule.

The current rule(s) of offside ( now so complicated), makes a mockery of being a defender and a linesman.

Case in point ? only yesterday evening David Villa strolls into an offside position, the defense hold the line. He doesn't receive the ball, it is played to the right to a player just on side who shoots and hits the post. The Linesman couldn't possibly have known at the time the ball was played that it was going to the right side of the field and not to DV. Furthermore he can only know it's a legitimate pass after some time has passed. At which time the defence has already been split and they freeze to watch the shot. The ball lands perfectly for Villa who scores off both posts ! What used to be a black and white rule is now multicoloured with wide permutations of possibilities. ( At the time ball is played forward less than two players between you and the goalline).

There is no point in defenders holding a line anymore, infact, there is no point in offside as the rule currently stands ( how many times have we seen someone run all the way from midfield to get a ball because an offside player stands and becomes 'inactive' and the defenders are waiting for an offside whistle that never comes ?).

[Dubaimancityfan]

I love the idea of only captains being allowed to talk to the referee.

My submission is that the offside rule should be modified. Instead of any part of the attacking players body being offside resulting in offside, I would change it to the player is onside if even one part of him is onside. That would ensure that more of the halfway decisions go for the striker.

Yeah, I agree with that. The current rule whereby if even a player's toe is offside, he is ruled to be off is absolutely ridiculous.

[john@staustell]

I'd like to see an existing rule ENFORCED. Screaming f-starred abuse at the referee should be an early bath, end of story. Not thinking of any club in particular of course!

[Sister of fu]

Yellow cards should be able to be resninded like red ones. Many player's have be banned for a big game on some silly yellow card that never was.

[Dipstick]

I love the idea of only captains being allowed to talk to the referee.

My submission is that the offside rule should be modified. Instead of any part of the attacking players body being offside resulting in offside, I would change it to the player is onside if even one part of him is onside. That would ensure that more of the halfway decisions go for the striker.

That was the offside rule (except for arms) from 1990 until 2005.

Before 1990 the rule was a player was not off side if:

there are at least two of his opponents nearer their own goal-line than he is

In 1990 that changed to

he is not nearer to his opponents' goal-line than at least two of his opponents.

and a clarification

A player who is level with the second last opponent or with the last two opponents is not in an off-side position.

but even this was open to misinterpretion of what "level" meant.
There was further clarification in 2003 which made it more obvious that nearer meant there had to be clear air (though they didn't use that term) between the attacker and second last defender.

3. In deciding whether an attacking player is nearer to the opponent’s goal line than the second last defender, consideration should be given to the position of the attacker’s feet and body in respect to that of the second last defender.
("Air space" or similar misleading phrases should not be used by instructors, but instructors should emphasise that assistant referees must be sure that the attacker is nearer to the goal line than the second last defender).

It was actually very difficult for linesmen to judge offsides under this rule when there were 4 or more players all roughly in a line, so it was changed again in 2005 (almost back to where it had been originally). It is just so much easier to judge if an attacker is poking out past the last defender (assuming the goalie is further back).

In the definition of offside position, “nearer to his opponents’ goal line means that any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. The arms are not included in this definition.

Reason:

Football is played with the head, body and feet. If these are nearer the opponents’ goal line, there is a potential advantage. There is no advantage to be gained if only the arms are in advance of the opponent.

I suspect that the real reason for going back to the old rule is that the extra couple of feet advantage meant that the forward looked to be in a more offside position when he received the ball causing the crowd to react and leading to more "home" (or scum) decisions.

[urlnp=http://www.corshamref.org.uk/offhist.htm]http://www.corshamref.org.uk/offhist.htm[/urlnp]

[patrickblue]

The one that has always pissed me off is the 'obstruction' that is allowed to take place with defenders sheperding the ball out of play whilst making no attempt to play it

That's one of my pet hates as well. When did it become ok for this to happen, it always used to be obstruction, now it is standard practice.

[Dipstick]

I would stop this unwritten rule of players kicking the ball out when a player has been "injured". It is up to the referee to stop the game if he thinks the tackle was fair but the player is rolling on the floor tough get on with it and play to the whistle it would stop this blatant time wasting. The only exception would be for a clash of heads

I thought that was supposed to have been the used in the Premier league last season. Unfortunately it can't easily be enforced as the players are not actually doing anything against the rules of the game. Players are quite in their rights to kick the ball out of play, or just kick the ball up the pitch after a throw in.

I don't know if the PL will keep it this season; all it really achieved was uncertainty - with some players stopping and others not - and a lot of really riled fans. It also caused misunderstandings for English teams in European matches.

[Dipstick]

I'd like to bring in a rule like in rugby where if a team doesn't retreat ten yards at a free kick then the ref moves the ball forward ten yards. Possibly also do the same if players encroach into the area before the kick is taken - e.g. running at the ball before it is kicked to attempt to block it at short range.

Not only would this speed up the game but would stop players arguing with the ref.

Unfortunately there are numerous problems:
- If the ref is some distance away there might be some debate about where the free kick is to be taken from.
- Do players from the offending team have to run round the ten yard circle of the ball to get into defensive positions?
- Takers might deliberately place the ball forward of the actual free kick spot to attempt to get an extra ten yards.
- If the free kick is already at a good angle then moving the ball forward would be an advantage to the offending side.
- What if a player on the guilty side is genuinely winded or injured.
- Players may take the free kicks quickly just to gain an extra 10 yards.

About the best that could be managed is that the free kick taker should be allowed to move the ball up to ten yards in any direction if the referee thinks that the defenders are attempting to delay the free kick being taken. This seems a bit too open to interpretation.

[sweenyuk]

I would like to award a goal where a deliberate offence has been clearly made to prevent a certain goal, rather than giving a penalty. e.g. the Uruguay defender's handball preventing a goal only for Ghana to miss the penalty. That should have been awarded as a goal as the only thing that stopped the ball crossing the line was a deliberate handball offence

[King Kev]

Wow, some really good replies so far!

Maybe it's time for FIFA to hand over the power to us. There's certainly a lot more common sense (and passion) in this thread than FIFA have ever managed to demonstrate!

[Florida Blue]

To please Doomie...
I would like to see a WORLD CLUB COMPETITION with only English clubs competing.

To please Florida Blue...
A play off system at the end of each season that would allow the club that finished bottom to become League Champions.

I am not sure how this would please me, but let me correct your errors:

1. It is one word: playoff
2. As far as I know there is no league in the world when the club that finished at the bottom of the league has ever been allowed to play for a professional title.

That said, I think a top 4 playoff tournament would be fun at the end of the season. You can have a league champion and and Premiere League Playoff champion. More shirts to buy, oh joy.

[ryanmjo]

On the subject of 10 yards away for free kicks, I know in South America they did an experiment this past season where the referee would march off 10 yards, then spray the ground with paint to mark the spot the defense had to stand behind. The paint was made so that it would just disappear after a short time as well. No idea how that worked out for them, seemed a decent idea though.

[Beefymcfc]

On the subject of 10 yards away for free kicks, I know in South America they did an experiment this past season where the referee would march off 10 yards, then spray the ground with paint to mark the spot the defense had to stand behind. The paint was made so that it would just disappear after a short time as well. No idea how that worked out for them, seemed a decent idea though.

We tried it a while ago where if they kept encroaching an extra 10 yards was given. Not sure what happened to that rule, it just seemed to fizzle out.

[TheGOAT]

Same time keeping as in Rugby

[craigmcfc]

Same time keeping as in Rugby

Yeah an independent time keeper with the time shown on the big screen and halted during stoppages so we all know where we're at...........oh wait, there's no big screen at the swamp, how convenient

[Beefymcfc]

Same time keeping as in Rugby

Yeah an independent time keeper with the time shown on the big screen and halted during stoppages so we all know where we're at...........oh wait, there's no big screen at the swamp, how convenient

It's a good idea in principle however I think it'd just make thing worse. The only time you could actually stop the clock would be for injuries (corners, freekicks and throw-ins would be too fast to stop the clock) and then who's to say the clock would be stopped at the right time? Would the ref stop the clock if the ball was kicked out for an injury, would he stop it because a player has dived and rolling around the floor like a dying fly? And, it's still open to interpretation, Sir McPooTash will always find a way to get an extra couple of minutes if needed.

In my opinion, whatever empowers the ref and takes away power from the authorities will never be allowed.

[craigmcfc]

Same time keeping as in Rugby

Yeah an independent time keeper with the time shown on the big screen and halted during stoppages so we all know where we're at...........oh wait, there's no big screen at the swamp, how convenient

It's a good idea in principle however I think it'd just make thing worse. The only time you could actually stop the clock would be for injuries (corners, freekicks and throw-ins would be too fast to stop the clock) and then who's to say the clock would be stopped at the right time? Would the ref stop the clock if the ball was kicked out for an injury, would he stop it because a player has dived and rolling around the floor like a dying fly? And, it's still open to interpretation, Sir McPooTash will always find a way to get an extra couple of minutes if needed.

In my opinion, whatever empowers the ref and takes away power from the authorities will never be allowed.

I suppose you could argue that it's one thing less for them to worry about and let's them concentrate more on all the other areas

[Beefymcfc]

Same time keeping as in Rugby

Yeah an independent time keeper with the time shown on the big screen and halted during stoppages so we all know where we're at...........oh wait, there's no big screen at the swamp, how convenient

It's a good idea in principle however I think it'd just make thing worse. The only time you could actually stop the clock would be for injuries (corners, freekicks and throw-ins would be too fast to stop the clock) and then who's to say the clock would be stopped at the right time? Would the ref stop the clock if the ball was kicked out for an injury, would he stop it because a player has dived and rolling around the floor like a dying fly? And, it's still open to interpretation, Sir McPooTash will always find a way to get an extra couple of minutes if needed.

In my opinion, whatever empowers the ref and takes away power from the authorities will never be allowed.

I suppose you could argue that it's one thing less for them to worry about and let's them concentrate more on all the other areas

I suppose mate, like seeing if the ball goes over the line or checking for dodgy off-side calls, maybe even checking to see if players like Fabiano or Henry like to use their limbs, other than the leg to influence a game ;-)

Anyways, don't we all enjoy the 'How long's He Adding On' debate at the game?

[saulman]

Technology for me. Plain and simple.

- Goal crosses the line, quick check and it's given.
- Offsides cleared up.
- Penalty decisions cleared up immediately.
- Divers and fakers found out immediately, taken to one side and shot.

People say it'll slow the game down but I reckon within a season it would elliminate most controversy and all diving.
There's too much at stake for the likes of Hand of God goals or Henry causing the Irish to miss out only to get that piss poor shambles of a team of French bastards to the world cup instead.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

It has GOT to be current offside rule. Too many interpretations and not even top referees in the world seem to be sure about it.

Another thing is tackling from behind WHEN YOU TOUCH BALL FIRST. Should be allowed. In fact ALL tackling should be allowed as long as you touch ball first.