No more offsides?

[Lundan Cabbie]

The Offside Law is now clearer than it has ever been

You're havin' a giraffe aintcha Lundan innit.

Well, at least I thought you were until I started to type out the old offside laws about 2 defenders (including the keeper), ball being played towards the defending goal by a team member, etc., etc.

The old laws were certainly the easiest to understand from the terraces though, especially if you happened to be in line with the defenders.

I don't think many have a problem with what is an offside position. Where people get confused is that it is not an offence to be in an offside position. Just being offside doesn't mean it's a free kick.

To commit an offence you have to interfere with play (meaning, play the ball) or seek to gain an advantage by being in that position (ie directly obstruct the goalkeeper's view of the ball or obstruct a player from playing the ball). And that's it! Nothing else is deemed to be interfering with play.

 

[Greenskin]

Can't see an abolition of the offside rule coming into being,but if the lawmakers wanted to dilute the offside influence,how about two lines across the pitch,one in each half from touchline to touchline and with the lines touching the apex of the D on the edge of each penalty area.In other words,you could only be offside in the 20 odd yards between tthe apex of the D and the byline.Would certainly open the game up,maybe worth an experimental match.

It has already been experimented a long while back in what was called the Watney Cup. The 18 yard line was extended to each touchline and you could only be offside in those 18 yards from the goaline.

I remember the Watney cup,i think it was for the teams who scored most goals in each division but did not include promotion winning teams.I thnk we qualified for it one year and there was a lot of trouble when we played Stoke down here.Didn't realise it was played under the experimental offside rule,obviously couldn't been a great success.

 

[Mike Charlick]

I reckon there's nothing to lose by trialling it. It's physically impossible for the assistant to give an accurate decision in close calls, so if you can't properly enforce the law it makes sense to look at other options.