Rule Changes for Soccer

[Cujo]

There have been a couple threads that dealt directly or indirectly with the issue of changing rules to improve the game. As I see it - people belong to several camps:

1) The Purists - the game in and of itself is perfect and needs no changes
2) The Moderates - Change should be difficult to accomplish and minimal/gradual
3) Radicals - Soccer is a wonderful and flawed game and like all sports should moderate its laws as needed to keep pace with changing social and other demographics.

In terms of rule changes soccer is IMHO the most conservative. Every sport though goes through significant rule changes that directly impact the way the game is played. Basketball survived goaltending, three point line, traveling, hand checking, 3 second, zone defense changes. Baseball - lowering the mound, instant replay, the DH, strike zone. Football - holding, contact by DB's, instant replay, field goals, kick offs, interference.
Hockey - goalie equipment restrictions, offside, obstruction/interference, line changes , shoot outs. I would argue that soccer has been the most conservative by far and that the current game is closer than any other game now to what it looked like in its infancy.

I believe that a modification of the LOTG as they apply to offside situations should be considered, as well as limitations on GK punting. I am not saying all the changes should be implemented at the same time but perhaps phased in over 5 to 10 years.

Offside - should be eliminated at approximately the top of the penalty area.
Punting - GK may not punt or drop kick the ball beyond midfield.
Injuries - Injured players for whom play is stopped may not return to the field for a certain length of time (10 minutes? 15 minutes?).
Free substitution - No other sport aside from baseball prevents players from re-entering a game. I have yet to hear a rational explanation as to why this rule exists in soccer. Or baseball for that matter (except for pitcher but then again baseball is more of a game than a sport). I have played in leagues that allow unlimited re-entry for both soccer and baseball and it does not detract from the game at all. Obviously there would need to be a limit on the size of the roster available to substitute, 16 would seem reasonable.

Let's see if we can have an adult and civil discussion. If you disagree that is fine but state your reasons.

[Unregistered]

Ok, quick take:

Offsides -- Don't quite see this. Extreme hanging is ok?

Punting -- No, it's an important differentiator among goalies at youth level. Will encourage swarming defenses with no regard to the long ball. If you want to pass it out for young players, adopt the rule in practice for scrimmages. Would it be ok for goalie to roll ball to defender who punts it long? Would that be prohibited too?

Injurues -- Yes, especially divers who can get a yellow as well. Excessive rolling and writhing gets a 15 minute mandatory respite. Under limited sub rules now, the player should not be allowed back before next half if convicted of diving.

Subs -- Yes, unlimited subs up to U22, that includes all NCAA competition. After that you can argue that stamina is a characteristic of the game, and overrides developmental priorities.

[Unregistered]

I'm for limited substitution at the high school ages using the school boy rule which is basically no reentry. This will divide those who can coach from those that can't. It would also mean playing your players reasonable minutes, not just to give the "star" a break, or lose them to other teams who will play them.

[Unregistered]

Need to get rid of the offside rule. No other changes needed.

[Unregistered]

I don't think there should be any changes.

Any changes to the LOTG have traditionally been to deal with behavior issues.

I don't see any drastic behavior problems in regards to offside, keeper punts, or even injuries.

Players can be cautioned for feigning and inhjury , or a foul. They can also be cautioned for time wasting.

In regards to substitutions , the LOTG allow modifications by individual leagues and organizations, if they want a different substitution scenario.

America has ruined enough of the other sports with rule changes, why add soccer to the mess?

Sorry, I'm a purist. I think that taking 20 minutes to play the last 5 minutes of a Women's College Basketball Game is absolutley ridiculous.

I wonder what Dr. Naismith would think of that.At least they play indoors . The first Olympic Basketball final was played outdoors, on dirt, in the pouring rain. I believe he was there. So some changes are neccesary, at times!

[Cujo]

Ok, quick take:

Offsides -- Don't quite see this. Extreme hanging is ok?

Punting -- No, it's an important differentiator among goalies at youth level. Will encourage swarming defenses with no regard to the long ball. If you want to pass it out for young players, adopt the rule in practice for scrimmages. Would it be ok for goalie to roll ball to defender who punts it long? Would that be prohibited too?

Injurues -- Yes, especially divers who can get a yellow as well. Excessive rolling and writhing gets a 15 minute mandatory respite. Under limited sub rules now, the player should not be allowed back before next half if convicted of diving.

Subs -- Yes, unlimited subs up to U22, that includes all NCAA competition. After that you can argue that stamina is a characteristic of the game, and overrides developmental priorities.

Hanging is not a problem because the ball must be brought below the top of the box before offside is nullified. If a defender leaves a player unmarked in that situation shame on them.

Punting - it is only an important differentiator if it makes a difference at the higher level. I would support a rule for defenders clearing the ball as well. The equivalent of an indoor 3 line rule in essence. Playing the ball long is boring, unimaginative, tedious soccer.


Subs - Why does stamina need to be a part of the game? I understand that it is but how does changing that hurt the game.

[Cujo]

I don't think there should be any changes.

Any changes to the LOTG have traditionally been to deal with behavior issues.

I don't see any drastic behavior problems in regards to offside, keeper punts, or even injuries.

Players can be cautioned for feigning and inhjury , or a foul. They can also be cautioned for time wasting.

In regards to substitutions , the LOTG allow modifications by individual leagues and organizations, if they want a different substitution scenario.

America has ruined enough of the other sports with rule changes, why add soccer to the mess?

Sorry, I'm a purist. I think that taking 20 minutes to play the last 5 minutes of a Women's College Basketball Game is absolutley ridiculous.

I wonder what Dr. Naismith would think of that.At least they play indoors . The first Olympic Basketball final was played outdoors, on dirt, in the pouring rain. I believe he was there. So some changes are neccesary, at times!

Did you oppose the changes years back eliminating keepers from picking up pass backs and the other changes ie.....

[Unregistered]

Subs - Why does stamina need to be a part of the game? I understand that it is but how does changing that hurt the game.

Stamina is one of the athletic characteristics that defines soccer from many other team sports. Off the top of my head, I can't think of another team sport that puts as much value on that characteristic then does soccer and because it is so highly valued soccer remains a sport for all types to play. Smaller soccer players may actually have better stamina then bigger soccer players because they don't have to carry as much "bulk" as their bigger counterparts.

[Unregistered]

Hanging is not a problem because the ball must be brought below the top of the box before offside is nullified. If a defender leaves a player unmarked in that situation shame on them.

Punting - it is only an important differentiator if it makes a difference at the higher level. I would support a rule for defenders clearing the ball as well. The equivalent of an indoor 3 line rule in essence. Playing the ball long is boring, unimaginative, tedious soccer.


Subs - Why does stamina need to be a part of the game? I understand that it is but how does changing that hurt the game.

OK, I did not quite understand the hanging change...yes I am totally all for that. Especially for youth soccer. How many games have been decided by a bogus offside call as a team presses in the last few minutes? I have personally seen it at least 3 times in MAPLE play over the years.

As far as long punts being boring, well, on our team two years ago, it was actually the most exciting offense we had. We occasionally subbed in a keeper with a great leg, she would boom the ball into the midfield line, it would bounce over the backs (who often misplayed the kick) and our strikers would make a run!

Ok, so that's not how it should be. But, it's what we had.

[Unregistered]

there have been a couple threads that dealt directly or indirectly with the issue of changing rules to improve the game. As i see it - people belong to several camps:

1) the purists - the game in and of itself is perfect and needs no changes
2) the moderates - change should be difficult to accomplish and minimal/gradual
3) radicals - soccer is a wonderful and flawed game and like all sports should moderate its laws as needed to keep pace with changing social and other demographics.

In terms of rule changes soccer is imho the most conservative. Every sport though goes through significant rule changes that directly impact the way the game is played. Basketball survived goaltending, three point line, traveling, hand checking, 3 second, zone defense changes. Baseball - lowering the mound, instant replay, the dh, strike zone. Football - holding, contact by db's, instant replay, field goals, kick offs, interference.
Hockey - goalie equipment restrictions, offside, obstruction/interference, line changes , shoot outs. I would argue that soccer has been the most conservative by far and that the current game is closer than any other game now to what it looked like in its infancy.

I believe that a modification of the lotg as they apply to offside situations should be considered, as well as limitations on gk punting. I am not saying all the changes should be implemented at the same time but perhaps phased in over 5 to 10 years.

Offside - should be eliminated at approximately the top of the penalty area.
Punting - gk may not punt or drop kick the ball beyond midfield.
Injuries - injured players for whom play is stopped may not return to the field for a certain length of time (10 minutes? 15 minutes?).
Free substitution - no other sport aside from baseball prevents players from re-entering a game. I have yet to hear a rational explanation as to why this rule exists in soccer. Or baseball for that matter (except for pitcher but then again baseball is more of a game than a sport). I have played in leagues that allow unlimited re-entry for both soccer and baseball and it does not detract from the game at all. Obviously there would need to be a limit on the size of the roster available to substitute, 16 would seem reasonable.

Let's see if we can have an adult and civil discussion. If you disagree that is fine but state your reasons.

change the offsides rule!!!! Good suggestion above although i would bring it out even further. Since this would speed up the game it would go hand in hand with free substitution

[Unregistered]

Regarding free substitutions - I generally like the idea that stamina is involved in the game and like the idea of limited substitutions (which makes soccer somewhat unique).

But at the local level, I don't think unlimited substitutions has ruined the game at all ...

Unlimited substitutions at the pro level will change the game in unknown ways. I don't currently see a problem so why fix something that isn't generally broken.

If soccer did allow unlimited substitutions, I think they'd need to change the way they're performed. Substitutions take forever to happen now and if you allow more of them ... the next thing you know we'll have commercials during the games.


The biggest problems in soccer, IMHO, is the gamesmanship - diving, professional/intentional fouls, ...

[Unregistered]

Why the wierd, usually British, obsession with cracking down on diving? Gotta get stuck in and eliminate these cheaters from the game......During HS girls games I've watched refs wave play on, motioning for my daughter to get up, and thought he must have started his day with FSC. Actually walked my daughter over in the parking lot after after one match to show the official the huge black and blue beating she had taken, and must say he seemed surprised, and tended to call games a bit tighter afterwards. Unfortunately it was late in the season.

[MASC]

I don't see any need to change the offside rule. The suggestion made only makes the Referee and A/R's job more difficult. A major problem with offside involves the difficulty/impossibility of spectators and coaches near midfield being able to determine the validity of any offside call. I would submit that the ranting about offiside calls by coaches and spectators is equivalent to the complaints about baseball umpires and their ball and strike calls. There is no way that any spectator can reasonably second guess a "close" call.

I do not like video replay in any sport. It destroys the flow of the game and makes officials hesitant to make close calls.

As I tell my children and the teams that I coached: Soccer is a game that has many puzzles that must be solved, i.e. the opposing team, the field, the weather, and the officials. Your job is to solve those puzzles.

Soccer is a sport that due to a tradition of limited substitution encourages the players to self-manage the game. The field is huge and coaches can only provide the most limited input. Unlimited subsitution is a means for coaches to micro-manage the game. It destroys the flow of play.

MASC has considered changing from unlimted substituion, to allowing no re-entry in a half. The sole reason for not implementing the rule is that it takes a certain amount of courage for a coach to "empty" his bench with significant time (enough time for a player to get fully into the flow of the game, i.e. 10 - 15 minutes minumum in a 45 minute half). The result being that the "end" of the bench players rarely get any meaningful playing time. Such is fine for professional players, but is not reasonable for youth players who need quality playing time to develop.

It is possible to monitor such, but would require significant book keeping by the referee as well as data entry by the league to enforce some sort of fair play under limited substitution. Other leagues such as Super-Y and NEP have a no-rentry rule. Super-Y does not enforce any fairness standards.

Further issues involve the number of players on a team. Depending on the team, players could be discouraged from coming to games so as to allow the "stars" more time on the pitch. Such is a routine practice in youth basketball where coaches make life miserable for weaker players to shorten the bench and keep their "stars" on the court. Such also occurs in Little League on almost every team in every town. Put the weaker players in right field, giving them the minimum number of innings (2-1/2) and at bats (1). Point out every mistake and make them generally feel worthless, and by the way please let the "star" players use your glove, helmet and bat since it is better than theirs.

[Unregistered]

MASC has considered changing from unlimted substituion, to allowing no re-entry in a half. The sole reason for not implementing the rule is that it takes a certain amount of courage for a coach to "empty" his bench with significant time (enough time for a player to get fully into the flow of the game, i.e. 10 - 15 minutes minumum in a 45 minute half). The result being that the "end" of the bench players rarely get any meaningful playing time. Such is fine for professional players, but is not reasonable for youth players who need quality playing time to develop.

Well, that's exactly why unlimited substitution should be extended to U22. Development is still happening. Earlier threads indicated the sub rule is an significant reason why b-players have a hard time developing to a-players in college....they only get token mintues, if any, and do something else.

[Unregistered]

Well, that's exactly why unlimited substitution should be extended to U22. Development is still happening. Earlier threads indicated the sub rule is an significant reason why b-players have a hard time developing to a-players in college....they only get token mintues, if any, and do something else.

Many of your top club coaches are already basically implementing the no reentry rule.