...could be abolished under new proposals currently being investigated by FIFA (The Times).

Yeah, ridiculous...just when I was getting the hang of it.

Apparantly, FIFA have been talking to the International Hockey Federation, who did this ten years ago and who now believe that the sport has been made more free flowing because of it.

Is there a football fan that actually understands the proper offside rule, active/passive etc?

Bollocks, you would just get people camping up the field waiting for a long ball, I have heard some stupid ideas in my time but to listen to a Hockey Federation is mind boggling, as its the most boring "sport" going.

Just been reading about this on yahoo sports said he wants to try it out in the lower leagues first.

Oh, that will go down well with some people, then.

yes, me.

HTH

Well, I claim to understand it at least better than lines-persons do.

PoK do you watch football if so then you should understand the LAWS! of the game.

A good point made in the comments at bottom of times page regarding why it works in hockey:

"The reality is that the ball stays on the deck in hockey (due to it's lack of bounce/air), whereas in football it would be "lump it in the mixer". BTW I would think that any hockey ball flying through the air would be "deemed dangerous".

My point is Compo, that I think there are still football fans who have been going for years who want to try to understand the rules but have difficulty doing that.

Yeah , and they all sit in the Millhouse.

Oh, wait a minute.....'want to understand the rules'? Course not, that would spoil everything.

Well I dont understand chinese or why a double dribble isnt allowed in basketball but i dont want them banned. I am being silly now but do you honestly think the game would be improved if there was no offisde?

the off side rule was brought about to prevent scrounging and mooching, which still occurs in school field football with jumpers for goalposts

It was over!!

It was post !!

It was in off the post!!!

I always though any controlled lift in hockey was legal its just the uncontrolled slog/shot where the ball lifts in an uncontrolled manner that is illegal. The fact is that the ball in hockey moves a lot quicker than in football. Any change in the rules will be met with a change in tactics. The benefits of no offside rule would include
- stop linesmen from having too much of an impact on the final result
- stop teams from condensing play into the middle third with no room for players to show their skill
- stop players from making it in the game simply because they have electric pace to run off the shoulder of the last defender
- be understandable to everyone watching

All we need is for FIFA to change the other rules that annoy people. Lets have

- video replays for contentious goals/penalies (max of two wrong challenges from managers per match)
- advance free kicks ten yards for dissent
- ban players for diving where after the game tv replays show they dived

Any others?

Imaging how many goals gary Lineker would have got if there was no offside

Will they also be considering bringing out all 22 players onto the pitch and having feggy pick of all the players.
Ban offside....? It's a silly idea of course ......unless ....... we adapt and win the league

Just a thought, but why not move the offside position from the halfway line to halfway in each half as a compromise....?

Hmmm....it might be a very good idea to let 'feggy' pick the team though. As long as he was one of the players and not the manager.

Make it at 22 metres out for all those joint football/rugby stadia

It would also take some of the 'workload' off the linesman, there's nothing more annoying than being caught offside just over the halfway line...I'd also like to see the throw in replaced with a free kick on the line.

Didn't they used to do that in America years ago when MLS was taking off. NY Cosmos etc.

thousands n millions of them

Would you need a linesman without offside it's about the only decision some referees let them give nowadays.

Or they just move behind the goal for decisions in the box or if ball over line.

Whatever next restricting goalkeepers to just 4 steps ???????

AYE. They did an experiment in US "football" <(bollocks) with a line across the pitch 35 yards out, was a complete fookin disaster.

Explain how it was a disaster.

They ran out of paint halfway

They should ban obstructing the ball out of play, bring in video replays for contentious decisions, adopt goal line technology and the refs should give penalties for instances where if the same incident happened outside of the box, the ref gives a foul.

If that didn't make the game better, i'll eat my own arse!

You are a very angry man. I can only presume it's because you're missing Sir Andy running rings around defenders down the left hand side like he has done consistently for the past 3 years.

Strikers were just standing on the line waiting for the lumped ball up front. Defenders hanging back to mark them. If you research it you'll find no good comments about it at all. Football is the best game in the world so why fookin spoil it.

Any ball in the air is ok as long as there are no players in the way. An uncontrolled slog/shot within the scoring 'D' that is in the air is also ok as long as it is a shot on target

Thanks for that. I honestly couldn't recall it being implemented then, but bearing in mind it was more circus than football at the time in the States, i'd like to see the line halfway into the half given one more chance.... I'll take notice of it this time.