Throw ins, Free Kicks and Offsides

[PistolPete]

I watched a game of field hockey on the weekend, a sport that used to be painfully cat-and-mouse, painfully stop-start. They have abolished the offside rule and allowed players to 'pass' dead balls to themselves. So much better!

So, can anyone give me a good reason why football shouldn't follow the same new rules?

No more absurd offside rulings, players like Rooney dribbling a free kick, throw in's thrown to themselves, I cant see a downside.

[Platypuss]

I cant see a downside.

Even more hoofball as midfields are bypassed?

[PistolPete]

No, because the forwards will still be marked, meaning the pitch is less congested and less reason to bypass the midfield. Well, thats my prediction.

[RobRoyal]

But your prediction is refuted by what actually happened before the offside rule, which is implied above.

[Maguire]

Everyone would pile into the penalty area, massive ball into the mixer, hope for the best.

[cmonurz]

Everyone would pile into the penalty area, massive ball into the mixer, hope for the best.

Which to the untrained eye is what hockey looks like, to me at least. They run around a bit, then all crowd in the D, and whack it at people's legs until it goes in.

[PistolPete]

Right, keep the offside rule then

What about taking the free-kick or throw in to yourself then?

[PistolPete]

Hmm, didn't realise the idiot that is Sepp Blatter had been considering it. I want to see an experiment...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... fside-rule

[Bandini]

Easier to hoof a football than a hockey ball.

[Wax Jacket]

Hockey does have the "can't score from outside the D" rule tohugh which wouldn't be good in football

[Red]

Thing that always annoyed me about hockey was you weren't allowed to use the back of your stick to hit the ball.

Guess I just never got over the transition from uni hockey

[TheMaraudingDog]

Thing that always annoyed me about hockey was you weren't allowed to use the back of your stick to hit the ball.

Guess I just never got over the transition from uni hockey

Out of every sport that I've had to play that is the worst rule out of the lot.

[Wax Jacket]

also you're not allowed to pass it backwards between your legs - now that is a rule

[cmonurz]

Christ, what are you allowed to do in hockey?

[Maguire]

Thing that always annoyed me about hockey was you weren't allowed to use the back of your stick to hit the ball.

Guess I just never got over the transition from uni hockey

Why would you do that? It's not flat

[Red]

Expert defender clearing balls left right and centre.

Or to put it another way I was a hit and hope man.

[TBM]

Isn't hockey just a game for homos

Why would we want Football to go the same way

[SpaceCruiser]

Thing that always annoyed me about hockey was you weren't allowed to use the back of your stick to hit the ball.

Guess I just never got over the transition from uni hockey

I think it shows how unskilled you must be if you need to use both sides. The skill is in how you handle the stick.

BTW, the offside rule was abolished well over a decade ago, it's not really news. Why are people still talking about it?

The taking of free-kicks is one new rule that I'm still getting used to.

[Red]

Yeh the insinuation was always that (a) I didn't take hockey seriously (quite the opposite in fact) and (b) wasn't any good at it - but thanks for smashing the point home Spacey.

Oooh and another

[soggy biscuit]

Don't really want any changes to football but for the Lolz would like to see one game a season with different rules.

39th game
Each team has one blindfolded player who must touch the ball every 5 minutes.

At 10 minute intervals a loud siren goes off to indicate the player with the ball has to juggle it in the air for 30 seconds, during this time fouls don't count.

every fan has a remote control in their seat and can vote 1-10 for the players performances. the performance ratings are shown on the big screen during the match, any player who's rating drops below 5 has embarassing information about their past flash up on the screen at half time. Players can automatically knock their rating up by 0.5 by removing items of clothing during the match.

Each time a goal goes in, the manager of that team must run a lap of the pitch while supporters are encouraged to bring out of date food to throw at them