I was listening to the radio the other day and there was a suggestion to scrap the offside rule for a competition. I'd be interested to see how a match panned out with out it but I don't think it would work overall.
Another thing that I've heard mentioned before is the idea of making the goals bigger, this one kind of makes sense as when the current dimensions were set in stone the players were a lot smaller physically so as they have got bigger with time surely the goal should to?
Any other ideas that might be worth a go? Or should everything just be left alone?
In the infamous words of nolly... Discuss!?
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wouldn't personally be a fan of making the goals bigger, but something like scraping the offside rule for the last 20 mins or having a line 30 yards out from where you cannot be offside from (i.e similar to the half way line rule) would be interesting.
Every time there is a stoppage of any kind, the clock should stop. When play resumes, the clock can restart again. There could then be no complaints on the amount of injury time added (as there would be no such thing), and there could be no advantage gained from taking too long at goal kicks/throw-ins. I can't remember exactly how much the ball spends in/out of play, but the length of each half would probably have to be reduced.
Timekeeping is another interesting one- the fact that teams seek to timewaste suggests there is something it it for them. You can usually accurately predict how many minutes will be added on by reading the game so this suggests the current system is a bit hit and miss and unfair (I'm usually right far more times than wrong). Yes, would be good if every stoppage, stopped a centarlly managed clock. Games might need to be 80 minutes but fans would see 70 or 80 minutes (depending on what duration you choose) of football which is more than they get at the moment - possibly a step too far for purists.
Not a fan of bigger goals as it would be difficult to compare the quality of a goal to a previous effort which would take something from the game. We couldn't say, Benson's upcoming hat-trick against Peterboro was a good as Super Clive's for instance
Another idea mooted a while ago was to reduce the number of outfield players by 1. The problem with that is the amount of unemployed footballers it would create.
How about scrapping goalkeepers?
The problem with doing something like scrapping the off-side rule for one competition is that the players will not be used to it and I'm not sure what you could learn from it. I don't think it's comparable to rule changes in snooker - snooker players don't have to make split second decisions. Neither is it the same as having the various versions of cricket.
lead to have basketballer- sized goalies and problems would remain the same.
Whereas if ground dimensions were to be increased to 80 x 120 yds, the extra surface would yield more goals because forwards (big or small) would have
more space to be unmarked or to outpace defenders and thus have more opportunities to shoo
Scrapping the off-side rule - great in theory but you'll encourage goal hanging and lumping the ball up to forwards route one style/Watford in the 80s. The consequence might be more goals and excitement, but there'll be a reduction in footballing skills to get the ball there.
You have to be careful about changing the rules - bitesize versions of other sports have some appeal but aren't that successful and have never replaced the longer version of their respective sports for example - ODIs and T20 in cricket are ok but will never in my mind replace Test cricket and similarly Rugby Sevens is ok for a bit of light entertainment, but give me a 15 a side match anyday. I'd lose interest in both sports very quickly if they became the dominat versions of cricket and rugby.
If you are looking for a suggestion you could think about changing the offside law to the point where the offside line is parallel with the edge of the penalty box, or you can only be offside within the penalty area. That would encourage attacking play and still utilise some midfield skills such as crossing and build up play without having a succession of Peter Crouch lookalikes hanging around the six yard box trying to head in long through balls.
I can see the sense in doing something similar to Rugby with the Ref stating clearly when time is stopped and when it isn't but i am not so sure how well this would propogate down to lower leagues in football.
Offside wise it is interesting to compare football with hockey which in terms of speed of play are largely similar. They abolished the offside rule in the 90's (previously they had an offside line 25 yards from the goal) the idea being it would make the game more exciting. Essentially it has turned it into a long-ball game with midfield pretty much turned into a no-mans land.
What they shouls do is go back to the old offside rules where everyone knew what was what instead of the dogs dinner we have now
give the victim the choice if a player commits a red card offence let the team manager decide if they want the player sent off or a penalty (regardless of where on the pitch the foul occurrs).
That's why you'd make each half shorter, based on the sort of research kigelia mentioned above.
Sorry, don't quite follow how it would be harder in the lower reaches of football. Is it that you can't rely on the ref to have to use a stopwatch every few seconds as there's no 4th official?
Players on receiving a yellow card should have to wear a yellow armband
A 'track' should be installed from goalpost to goalpost and a 6ft robot goalkeeper should be remote controlled by the manager.
Foul throws is something that's never regulated. Time-wasting is dependant on crowd noise and the fourth official spends more time ensuring managers don't leave their boxes than watching the pitch.
Something like scrapping off-side would simply lead to one man being left up front. After-all that's exactly what we'd do with Benson given that his our-field play isn't great.
Teh one rule I would like to see scrapped is the awarding of a penalty and the sending off of the goalkeeper. Always struck me as double jepardy.
The problem is that by leaving it to the ref alone you would have no difference to the siutation we have now. The ref stops the watch if he wants to and then determines when time is up. To work effectively you need a clear display of when the clock is running and when it isn't otherwise it is still open to a log of argument as to whether it has been applied correctly.
But would that not create the same problem? albeit 10 yds deeper?