What is your position on the offsides rule (Soccer)?

[Boomer]

I say...keep the offside rule intact unless possesion of the ball is attained below the goal box line...then no offsides.

Fair enough?

Then you'll just get people goal hanging. It would ruin the game.

 

[Section126]

Uhm ok

But if you recover the ball so close to the goal, you pretty much are just 1 on 1 with the GK and just shoot to score

I misstyped....or you didn't understand...

IMO..if you are below the box line...an offside call is ridiculous. SO I say..get rid of it then.

We are not talking earth shattering stuff...

There was one offside call like that in the GER/ITA game...none in the POR/FRA game.

 

[BigDogsHunt]

It doesn't need to be modified, it needs to be explained properly and carried through properly on the pitch. The rule is perfect, save for the 'player not intefering with play'. That leads to huge problems. Anyone offside when the ball is played should be offside, regardless of whether they're intefering with play or not.

Then there's no issues.

Boomer, I sense you are for keeping the game exactly as it is. But do you see any rule you wish was changed to improve the game?

 

[ckb2001]

OK BigDogsHunt, though I don't have a source for the spread in the popularity of soccer in much of the 20th century, FIFA has a GREAT site explaining the origins of the game, and at the very end, they do say:

"The spread of football outside of Great Britain, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world."

http://www.fifa.com/en/history/history/0,1283,1,00.html

So, that should take care of the first of my points, that the influence of the British Empire was one of the main contributing factors early on.

Now, let me look for the other factor: FIFA politics during the 20th century.

 

[finsmx]

I misstyped....or you didn't understand...

IMO..if you are below the box line...an offside call is ridiculous. SO I say..get rid of it then.

We are not talking earth shattering stuff...

There was one offside call like that in the GER/ITA game...none in the POR/FRA game.

You misstyped

 

[BigDogsHunt]

OK BigDogsHunt, though I don't have a source for the spread in the popularity of soccer in much of the 20th century, FIFA has a GREAT site explaining the origins of the game, and at the very end, they do say:

"The spread of football outside of Great Britain, mainly due to the British influence abroad, started slow, but it soon gathered momentum and spread rapidly to all parts of the world."

http://www.fifa.com/en/history/history/0,1283,1,00.html

So, that should take care of the first of my points, that the influence of the British Empire was one of the main contributing factors early on.

Now, let me look for the other factor: FIFA politics during the 20th century.

I have agreed with the points regarding the Empire, but at the end of the day, when it costs very little to produce what is needed to play a game, that has to have a lot of weight on its earliest ability to be learned, taught, played and loved.

The British empire influenced where the game was brought, I also think the simplicity of what it takes to play or setup a game is what kept it acceptable more than any other sport.

 

[ckb2001]

I have agreed with the points regarding the Empire, but at the end of the day, when it costs very little to produce what is needed to play a game, that has to have a lot of weight on its earliest ability to be learned, taught, played and loved.

The British empire influenced where the game was brought, I also think the simplicity of what it takes to play or setup a game is what kept it acceptable more than any other sport.

The question is how much weight the economics of playing the game has. Of course it has some, but would people writing a history of the popularity of soccer list that as one of the main reasons?

That's where we differ. I guess no and you guess yes. Lemme keep searching.

 

[Boomer]

Boomer, I sense you are for keeping the game exactly as it is. But do you see any rule you wish was changed to improve the game?

The offside rule should be sorted out as I said. Then there's no confusion. And players that dive or that show imaginary cards should be booked immediately. And the game should be allowed to flow more. Putting your hands on a guy isn't a free kick. Let the players play.

Other than that, as someone who's played at a high level and watched the game since I was about 2, I can't think of any.

 

[Boomer]

I misstyped....or you didn't understand...

IMO..if you are below the box line...an offside call is ridiculous. SO I say..get rid of it then.

We are not talking earth shattering stuff...

There was one offside call like that in the GER/ITA game...none in the POR/FRA game.

I don't understand what you mean, but suffice to say, the rule is fine as it is, it just needs clarification with regards whether a player is interfering with play.

 

[ckb2001]

Crud.. this thing about the main reasons behind soccer's popularity isn't so easy to google (other than the British Empire thing in its early days). BigDogsHunt, I'll restart the search at a later time... gotta do some other more important stuff now.

 

[Boomer]

Crud.. this thing about the main reasons behind soccer's popularity isn't so easy to google (other than the British Empire thing in its early days). BigDogsHunt, I'll restart the search at a later time... gotta do some other more important stuff now.

What are you trying to find out?

 

[BigDogsHunt]

What are you trying to find out?

Simon, basically its the "why is soccer so global" question.

How much did the British Empire play into it (we all agree alot), and how much is it globally dominant because of the low-cost of entry (economics) of playing. The "you only need a ball type of argument".

I say that low cost of entry is a significant reason, if not more important, to its continued adoption once introduced by empire, etc. Easy to teach and start up with little equipment investment needed view point.

CKB2001 thinks low cost is less significant in the argument.

As well as, how it doesnt have much competition to other sports around the globe and bare-foot kids on dirt pitches are focused thru TV ads and media hyping via the NIKE's and Addias's of the world, etc which empshasizes the 3rd world dominance and love of the game at its basic level.

The thread talks about it better.......:wink:

 

[phins_4_ever]

It doesn't need to be modified, it needs to be explained properly and carried through properly on the pitch. The rule is perfect, save for the 'player not intefering with play'. That leads to huge problems. Anyone offside when the ball is played should be offside, regardless of whether they're intefering with play or not.

Then there's no issues.

Thats how it used to be when I was playing.

 

[Section126]

I don't understand what you mean, but suffice to say, the rule is fine as it is, it just needs clarification with regards whether a player is interfering with play.

This is what I mean:

If you have possesion beyond the penalty box line...and you pass the ball to a player on your team and he recieves it before the goal box line...it shouldn't be offside.

Like I said...you are talking about an offsides that gets called once every 2 or 3 games....

 

[ckb2001]

OK, BigDogsHunt, the search for a good read on why soccer grew to be so popular worldwide is turning out to be hard, but there are really good write-ups on how the popularity of soccer came to be in specific countries. So, I think this may be the better strategy for search.

Here's a good one for the US:

http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/overview.html

I know it's a LONG read, but it's quite good. Anyway, the key point is the growth or lack of growth of popularity in American soccer was initially tied to British influence and immigration from Europe, but for the 20th century you'll see most of it has to do with particular business decisions (how soccer leagues fared), WW2, decisions by USSF, coverage by the medie, etc..

So, for American soccer at least, the simplicity of the game and the relative non-violent nature of it (in modern times) seems to have very little to do with changes in the popularity of the sport over time.

The question is now what about soccer in other places? Well, I'll look for good links (this is really a problem as many seem to be just summaries of other write-ups!!!) in the future and post them here.