Changing the offside rule?

[lcafiero]

OK, first things first: I have only been following football for about eight years, and after maybe, say, five years I have finally understood the offside rule. I admit, it took awhile, but finally I get it.

As it happened in the Glasgow Derby on Sunday, we got "burned" again by a bad officiating call which struck off a goal. Not to bring up the "poor officiating" in the grand scheme of the hammerthrowing SPFL, and I am just thinking aloud here -- let me repeat that, I'm just thinking aloud -- about this: In the wake of the VAR that we seem to be stuck with, whether the offside rule should be changed to avoid having to decide on whether someone's arm or leg is offside to something more concrete.

The first change might be this: Instead of a body part (e.g., arm, leg, nose, etc.) being offside, change the rule to allow a full body to be offside before offside is called. For starters. Let there at least be some daylight between attacker and defender before an offside is called. We get burned by this all the time, and even Liverpool got burned on it Sunday against Man United, where they should have won 4-0 instead of 3-0.

That would make it clear. I would also welcome discussion and ideas from other Noisers on this, who might have some input other than, "it's been that way for 100+ years, no need to change it now."

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines . . .

 

[Bridie Bhoy]

The offside rule has become farcically overcomplicated in recent years. I believe there are high level discussions already ongoing to reintroduce the need to see daylight between players for them to be offside. The issue I have is that you are only moving the problem of fine margins to trying to measure another set of very fine parameters. In fact, the daylight clause might be even harder to determine as you really need to be exactly in line to see it properly.

Until we have hi precision GPS chips on every player then it is always going to be difficult. UEFA did introduce semi-automatic offsides in Euro 24 using a ball with a chip inside it monitoring for impact 500 times per second and a hawkeye system monitoring all 22 players' precise location. This is prohibitively expense at the moment.

How to improve offside? Only use the player's feet. If it is checked on VAR then do it quickly using a fixed line that moves up and down the pitch on the monitor - if you can easily see a player is offside then give it (easier using the feer) but if it is not instantly noticeable the give the advantage to the attacker as any advantage would be so miniscule as to be neglible.

For example, IF Kûhn's upper arm was indeed a few millimetres closer to the goal than a defender 40 yards away covering a different player then so what? Where is there any advantage in that?

 

[50 Shades of Green]

OK, first things first: I have only been following football for about eight years, and after maybe, say, five years I have finally understood the offside rule. I admit, it took awhile, but finally I get it.

As it happened in the Glasgow Derby on Sunday, we got "burned" again by a bad officiating call which struck off a goal. Not to bring up the "poor officiating" in the grand scheme of the hammerthrowing SPFL, and I am just thinking aloud here -- let me repeat that, I'm just thinking aloud -- about this: In the wake of the VAR that we seem to be stuck with, whether the offside rule should be changed to avoid having to decide on whether someone's arm or leg is offside to something more concrete.

The first change might be this: Instead of a body part (e.g., arm, leg, nose, etc.) being offside, change the rule to allow a full body to be offside before offside is called. For starters. Let there at least be some daylight between attacker and defender before an offside is called. We get burned by this all the time, and even Liverpool got burned on it Sunday against Man United, where they should have won 4-0 instead of 3-0.

That would make it clear. I would also welcome discussion and ideas from other Noisers on this, who might have some input other than, "it's been that way for 100+ years, no need to change it now."

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines . . .

I would say that unless there is clear daylight between the players the advantage should go to the attacker (as was the case before VAR)... However simple as it sounds if people are drawing non parallel lines as was the case on Sunday then it wont work... Imho there is no appetite for it in Scotland as they can use it atm to suit their obvious agenda.

 

[lcafiero]

Imho there is no appetite for it in Scotland as they can use it atm to suit there obvious agenda.

So noted. But still, in the grand scheme of things -- and in a perfect world, far removed from the SPFL (I know) -- there should be some sort of consistency with this.

 

[lcafiero]

How to improve offside? Only use the player's feet. If it is checked on VAR then do it quickly using a fixed line that moves up and down the pitch on the monitor - if you can easily see a player is offside then give it (easier using the feer) but if it is not instantly noticeable the give the advantage to the attacker as any advantage would be so miniscule as to be neglible.

For example, IF Kûhn's upper arm was indeed a few millimetres closer to the goal than a defender 40 yards away covering a different player then so what? Where is there any advantage in that?

That's a great observation, Bridie Bhoy.

 

[Imatim]

How about scrapping the offside rule and putting the MIB on VAR out of busines…..

 

[Brimcbhoy]

Its already underway and is being championed by ex Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

FIFA calls on football’s lawmakers to push ahead with offside trials

FIFA wants football’s law-making body the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to press on with trials of what would be the biggest change to the offside rule in over 30 years. Championed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, the proposed change would mean an attacker would be...

www.nytimes.com

 

[Frank Owen]

We tried that many moons ago in the ill-fated Dryburgh Cup, did we not? I think offside was scrapped completely for that tournament. Deemed a failure.

Anyway, Bridie Bhoy would be a liability with those huge boats of his..... allegedly.

Good shout from Larry, and Bridie, though.

 

[Magnificent 7]

With Var looking like it's here to stay there should be two lines first line has to have a system driven unequivocally straight line to determine the body position of attacker v last defender 2nd line should have a built in system measurement of distance between the two.
The distance should be set at whatever is pre agreed as a rule e.g. 1ft 2ft or whatever.
If the attacker is then within that parameter then he gets the benefit and is onside.

For transparency both teams get the opportunity to make one challenge per game to hear and see a replay of how the decision was arrived at by the VAR officials and the Mib live just like the tennis and rugby.

 

[Marky1956]

We tried that many moons ago in the ill-fated Dryburgh Cup, did we not? I think offside was scrapped completely for that tournament. Deemed a failure.

Anyway, Bridie Bhoy would be a liability with those huge boats of his..... allegedly.

Good shout from Larry, and Bridie, though.

If I recall correctly in the Dryburgh cup there was a line drawn across the park at the 18yard line (it might have been further out )so couldn't be offside between the two 18 yard boxes (or only offside inside the 18 yard boxes ) it was easier thinking about it than writing it down

 

[Marky1956]

Why not use these cameras that they use in athletics that run on a rail the length of the track ?
Sorry scrap that idea ,forgot sprinters are only moving in one direction

 

[Miktim]

If I recall correctly in the Dryburgh cup there was a line drawn across the park at the 18yard line (it might have been further out )so couldn't be offside between the two 18 yard boxes (or only offside inside the 18 yard boxes ) it was easier thinking about it than writing it down

If I remember right the games they used it in worked well and the games were more open. I think it got binned because FIFA wouldn’t allow it to be used in official domestic games

 

[Frank Owen]

If I recall correctly in the Dryburgh cup there was a line drawn across the park at the 18yard line (it might have been further out )so couldn't be offside between the two 18 yard boxes (or only offside inside the 18 yard boxes ) it was easier thinking about it than writing it down

Yes, I think you are correct, Marky. It was no offside between the boxes.

 

[50 Shades of Green]

I think the lines were further out than the 18yrd box, I seem to remember seeing extra lines right across the pitch around the 22 to 25 yrd distance from the goals... And you couldn't then be offside in the middle third of the pitch...

 

[Bridie Bhoy]

If I recall correctly in the Dryburgh cup there was a line drawn across the park at the 18yard line (it might have been further out )so couldn't be offside between the two 18 yard boxes (or only offside inside the 18 yard boxes ) it was easier thinking about it than writing it down

yes, 18 yard line was extended across the pitch in 1975.

 

[50 Shades of Green]

View attachment 26629
yes, 18 yard line was extended across the pitch in 1975.

I see my memory is as good as usual

 

[boab1916]

OK, first things first: I have only been following football for about eight years, and after maybe, say, five years I have finally understood the offside rule. I admit, it took awhile, but finally I get it.

As it happened in the Glasgow Derby on Sunday, we got "burned" again by a bad officiating call which struck off a goal. Not to bring up the "poor officiating" in the grand scheme of the hammerthrowing SPFL, and I am just thinking aloud here -- let me repeat that, I'm just thinking aloud -- about this: In the wake of the VAR that we seem to be stuck with, whether the offside rule should be changed to avoid having to decide on whether someone's arm or leg is offside to something more concrete.

The first change might be this: Instead of a body part (e.g., arm, leg, nose, etc.) being offside, change the rule to allow a full body to be offside before offside is called. For starters. Let there at least be some daylight between attacker and defender before an offside is called. We get burned by this all the time, and even Liverpool got burned on it Sunday against Man United, where they should have won 4-0 instead of 3-0.

That would make it clear. I would also welcome discussion and ideas from other Noisers on this, who might have some input other than, "it's been that way for 100+ years, no need to change it now."

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines . . .

Why we need VAR: Watch 1.16

 

[Bridie Bhoy]

Why we need VAR: Watch 1.16

It was the defender catching the ball and handing it to a disgusted goalie that really made this such a terrible decision. The ref used this hilarious anecdote in his after dinner speeches for years after he hung up his whistle. So his incompetence was lucrative to him at least.

 

[boab1916]

Would have been a smart move for the goal scoring team to have took the ball from the back of the net and ran up the park with it. Headscratcher.

 

[Tarzan Trombone]

I watched that united thistle goal that was denied above.

But this one is even more bizarre imo