From: MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: Re: RULE CHANGES
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 12:03:52 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

In <1h3nc2INNh7g@mirror.digex.com> alexj@access.digex.com writes:

> In article <1992Dec17.103404.23469@abo.fi> MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF) writes:
> > FIFA is said to be studying the 35-yard-line concept.
> >---
> >What do our former NASL fans think? Did the 35yd.-line have a positive impact? 
> > 
> 
> In my observation, the 35-yard line hurt more than it helped. It
> encouraged one-dimensional strikers to loiter right on the edge for the
> entire game hoping to poach a quick goal. This in turn forced opponents to
> hang extra defenders back inside the line to keep the striker in check.
> The result was a game dominated by long, high passes into a crowd of
> defenders, over and over again, for 90 minutes. 
> 
> Needless to say, one of the favorite ways to accomplish this and get out
> of trouble at the same time was to have the goalkeeper clear the ball
> upfield at every chance. The old NASL games sometimes looked like an
> American gridiron-football punting competition.
> 
> Having watched hundreds upon hundreds of games, I think some of the
> offside problems could be addressed by better training of linesmen, too
> many of whom, especially in the United States, still signal offside based
> on where the players are when the ball arrives, not when it is played,
> leading to half-a-dozen improper offside calls, particularly in games on
> the amateur level here. That only encourages the noxious offside trap.

Although offside isn't the kind of high-priority change the backpass rule (or
introducing a timekeeping official for international & professional games) was,
I would like to see this changed too. There are three things wrong with the
current laws, they lead to congestion in midfield, they encourage negative
tactics [the offside trap] and they make life difficult for the
linesmen because they have to watch the players very carefully.
---
Perhaps the LENGTH of the pass should decide whether the player receiving the
ball is offside?! FIFA could introduce the 35-yard-line (32.5 meters) and draw
a second line along the edge of the penalty area. Any pass that crosses only 
one of these lines is legal. In this case the linesmen would only have to 
keep an eye on where the ball was when it was last touched by a player, and 
where it is when a teammate touches it. 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
I          I           I               I               I           I          I
I----------I           I               I               I           I----------I
I          I           I               I               I           I          I
-------    I           I               I               I           I    -------
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
I     I    I           I               I               I           I    I     I
-------    I           I               I               I           I    -------
I          I           I               I               I           I          I
------------           I               I               I           ------------
I          I           I               I               I           I          I
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Penalty area       35 yd.        Halfway line


I know, I know. This looks like a simplified gridiron football field, and there
must be some complications with this proposal I haven't thought of. Might lead
to a lack of space in midfield as you can only pass the ball from the edge of
the penalty area to the halfway line. The obvious advantage is that merely
being a couple of meters offside inside the penalty area would no longer be of
any concern. Any other problems?

> A FIFA directive that linesmen in top-level games must be fully trained as
> referees, which seemed to work at WC'90, could have a significant effect
> on the game.

Italia'90 was pretty bad in this respect. There were at least three or four
controversial offside decisions, most notably in the third place match where
Italy was robbed of a legitimate goal because of an embarrassingly bad offside
call (something like two or three English defenders closer to the goal when de
Napoli (?) received the ball). Still, things evened out as John Barnes'
game-winning goal against Belgium in the second round was wrongly rejected on
the same grounds!
 
> Cheers,
> 
> Alex Johnson, alexj@access.digex.com
> 

MARCU$