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I understand the off side rule, but WHY does it exist ?

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    gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,630
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    I can understand why it is obvious you cannot be offside from a corner kick but why also make the exception that you cannot be offside from a throw in? Perhaps also change it so you cannot be offside from a free kick?
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    EurostarEurostar Posts: 78,519
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    lightblues wrote: »
    The rule exists to stop 'goal hanging '
    When you played football as a kid in the school yard you would be accused of goal hanging if all you did was stand by the goal waiting for the ball and then tap it into the net .
    One of the best rules in football even if the current interpretation can cause controversy at times

    Yes, apparently in the mid 19th century there was a mad scramble of players in each penalty area and very little midfield play, so the rule was introduced to open up the play.
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    howard hhoward h Posts: 23,369
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    howard h wrote: »
    No more than two behind square on the batsman's off side.

    Correction - no more than two behind square on the batsman's LEG side :blush:
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    bobcarbobcar Posts: 19,424
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    gomezz wrote: »
    I can understand why it is obvious you cannot be offside from a corner kick but why also make the exception that you cannot be offside from a throw in? Perhaps also change it so you cannot be offside from a free kick?

    If you did that every attacking team would put men on the goal line just the same as in normal play as would the defence . As with no open play offside it would destroy the game.
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    bobcarbobcar Posts: 19,424
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    In NFL they have a strange mythical beast called an ONSIDE KICK. The teams rarely have the courage to do it. NFL remains the best sport in the world.

    There's a reason why American football is only played to any great extent in the US and football is the world's most popular spectator sport.
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    gemma-the-huskygemma-the-husky Posts: 18,116
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    I have always thought that if the USA took football seriously they would be unbeatable. However there will then be immense pressure for multiple refs, video replay etc. I think there would be a lot of pressure to stamp out penalty box fouling, and so on.

    US sport is scrupulously fair. US Football, baseball, basketball, hockey. They don't get many refereeing decisions wrong.

    Football (soccer) may be the most watched came around, but to me it is spoiled by the blatant cheating and incompetent refereeing. Getting decisions correct would not make it a worse game.

    Fifa are slowly but surely being dragged into the world of video replays, whether they like it or not. Too many high profile important mistakes are causing that to happen.
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    celesticelesti Posts: 26,017
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    Not that I'm complaining, but the Seahawks benefited from a catalogue of poor refereeing decisions last year. Everything's more scrutinised, but you'll never remove human incompetence.
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    wakeywakey Posts: 3,073
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    I have always thought that if the USA took football seriously they would be unbeatable. However there will then be immense pressure for multiple refs, video replay etc. I think there would be a lot of pressure to stamp out penalty box fouling, and so on.

    US sport is scrupulously fair. US Football, baseball, basketball, hockey. They don't get many refereeing decisions wrong.

    Football (soccer) may be the most watched came around, but to me it is spoiled by the blatant cheating and incompetent refereeing. Getting decisions correct would not make it a worse game.

    Fifa are slowly but surely being dragged into the world of video replays, whether they like it or not. Too many high profile important mistakes are causing that to happen.

    The problem with video replays is they can only be used to correct decisions when the ball goes immediately dead. There's as many incorrect decisions where the ball doesn't go dead. Imagine the uproar if we had video refs now and in the Final David Luiz tackles a player in the box, the ref doesnt give a foul and Brazil break and score. A minute later the 4th official tells the ref that Luiz actually fouled so the goals ruled out and a penalty given to the opponent.

    We also see from pundit discussions that even with video replays many decisions aren't completely clear cut even from multiple angles. How long do you allow the game to be stopped to make this decision, Even a single angle takes atleast 30 seconds for it to be reviewed. Are we going to end up like American Football where each 15min quarter takes around 45mins to complete which would mean matches take over 4 hours to complete.

    In a free flowing game without the natural breaks that American Football, Cricket, Tennis has then imho any tech need to meet the same requirements that Goal Line Tech has and that's it needs to be almost instant, fair and definitive
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    SurferfishSurferfish Posts: 7,659
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    wakey wrote: »
    The problem with video replays is they can only be used to correct decisions when the ball goes immediately dead. There's as many incorrect decisions where the ball doesn't go dead. Imagine the uproar if we had video refs now and in the Final David Luiz tackles a player in the box, the ref doesnt give a foul and Brazil break and score. A minute later the 4th official tells the ref that Luiz actually fouled so the goals ruled out and a penalty given to the opponent.

    Well if Luiz had actually fouled that would be the correct decision wouldn't it? It should only take the 4th offiicial a few seconds to come to a decision anyway.

    There will always be hypothetical situations like this where it might not work perfectly but I think in general using technology to help decide on major decisions should work fine and would vastly reduce the amount of wrong decisions.

    For close offsides the ref should just allow play to continue for a few seconds. If a goal is scored or its a corner the ref can then review the replay and award either a goal/corner or offside. If the ball doesn't quickly go out of play, play should just continue and no harm is done.
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    gemma-the-huskygemma-the-husky Posts: 18,116
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    wakey wrote: »
    The problem with video replays is they can only be used to correct decisions when the ball goes immediately dead. There's as many incorrect decisions where the ball doesn't go dead. Imagine the uproar if we had video refs now and in the Final David Luiz tackles a player in the box, the ref doesnt give a foul and Brazil break and score. A minute later the 4th official tells the ref that Luiz actually fouled so the goals ruled out and a penalty given to the opponent.

    We also see from pundit discussions that even with video replays many decisions aren't completely clear cut even from multiple angles. How long do you allow the game to be stopped to make this decision, Even a single angle takes atleast 30 seconds for it to be reviewed. Are we going to end up like American Football where each 15min quarter takes around 45mins to complete which would mean matches take over 4 hours to complete.

    In a free flowing game without the natural breaks that American Football, Cricket, Tennis has then imho any tech need to meet the same requirements that Goal Line Tech has and that's it needs to be almost instant, fair and definitive

    The example you gave with david luiz is exactly what happens in NFL. Better the decision is right, than wrong i think.

    Actually i think they do not have video replays in baseball, and the in/out decisions are really tight, but the base judges seem to get them right. What they do have is loads of refs watching everything, and they are not scared to call offences.

    Last night they were showing suarez being held tight by an italian defender. Shearer and lineker saying that happened all the time. Thats the problem.


    Even in basketball fouls get called. Football (maybe ice hockey) is the only sport that does not CONSISTENTLY call foul play.
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    alanrollinsalanrollins Posts: 3,045
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    gomezz wrote: »
    I can understand why it is obvious you cannot be offside from a corner kick but why also make the exception that you cannot be offside from a throw in? Perhaps also change it so you cannot be offside from a free kick?

    They tried that in the conference years ago, with disastrous results. Teams were just surrounding the opposing keeper for free kicks. :D
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