According to.....

[coupwotcoup]

....606 (another near neighbour of the beast) that FIFA are trying out a new ball for the U17 world championship in Peru, this November. Apparently it beeps every time it crosses the line. No wonder they don't try it in the ESL...half the lines have almost gone by the break.

[MbrunoB]

Did you see the other one they came out with, An indirect free kick for encroachment at penalties?

[Two Fat Feet]

When we played Eton Manor at Burnham last season, the halfway line didn't go through the centre circle.

 

And do you remember the state of the six-yard line at Sungate, the first time we played Collier Row in a competitive fixture? We all suspected that the groundsman had been swallowed up by the mud while he was marking the pitch.

[coupwotcoup]

Now you are taking the p!ss.

[Two Fat Feet]

When I heard that they want to review the offside rule again, I wondered if it might be better to take a completely different approach, more in line with, say, ice hockey. No, I don't mean that every time somebody is offside a punch-up starts, I mean a thirty-yard (say) line, which the ball has to cross before any attacking player. The long punt forward would be reduced as it would run straight through to the 'keeper, and the best way to attack would be to run the ball through from the wings, holding it up for forwards to arrive in the middle. There could be no offside trap since it is purely dependent on the organisation of the attacking side, and you might even see some good old one-on-ones more often.

 

Feel free to shoot me down here.

[coupwotcoup]

It is simple really. Adopt the subutteo(?) rule. A line midway between the penalty area and the half way line. Anyone, and I mean anyone (well forwards anyway) over that line, whether they are doing their laces up, scratching their balls or whatever...is offside. Plain and simple. At least everyone would understand the law then. At the moment it is so complicated that even the odd woman can tell you roughly how it pans out.

 

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[Two Fat Feet]

I always thought that line was a kind of 'scoring area', you weren't allowed to shoot from behind the line.

 

It was intended to make the game more realistic, possibly to compensate for the throw-in specialist who was five times the height of the rest of the team.

[coupwotcoup]

True it was a shooting line, but I refer the member to my previous posting.

[MbrunoB]

that sounds the same as the ice hockey off-side.

[coupwotcoup]

Where do you keep disappearing to, stirring your spag bol again?

[Two Fat Feet]

That was pretty much what I had said previously.

 

Pah, nobody ever listens to me.

[The Invisible Man]

Wouldn't you just get goal hangers hanging about on the (say) 30 yard line? The effect would be no change but moving the halfway line up a bit (you can't be offside in your own half as I'm sure you know).

 

Keep it as it is, I say. But I'd like to see drop kicks by goalies banned - make them throw it out. Can't stand this long ball stuff.

 

Correct about the Subbutteo line - it is both a shooting line and an offside line (so to speak).

[Two Fat Feet]

If you couldn't go across the line before the ball there'd be little point waiting there for it - a long ball forward would usually reach the 'keeper before the forward could get to it, so it would have to be an accurate, probably short, pass. If you were just waiting there for the ball to go down the wings so you could make your move, you'd be a passenger and little use to your team as the attack builds. If somebody wants to be a goalhanger at thirty yards then let them if their team-mates don't mind. The main point is to remove negative offside tactics from defenders and to make offside decisions a lot more clear-cut, with hopefully a side-effect of forcing sides to play more attractive football.

[Fruitbat]

The 30 yard Offisde line was tried out in the Watney Cup about 30 years ago !!

Special Cup for the Highest scorers in each Division, so rule tried out, but never taken up by the League.

Personally, I thought it made the game a bit more entertaining as I watched Sheff Utd tonk my locals Aldershot, 6-0 !!

[coupwotcoup]

Didn't the Red Sh!t get stuffed by Colchester in the final?

[Southport - TOWNER]

Fruitbat - u r correct, and it was tried in the Texaco trophy, pre-season stuff featuring jocks and English back in the 70's.

 

My gandad said it never worked, but think Andy ref'd one of the games, but couldn't tell who was who as the colours looked the same

[andyetfc]

At least Texaco put money into the competition.

 

When did you last hear of BP putting any money into anything other than their own wallets?

[Gazza]

Good buisness sense that, at least thats what my economics teacher use to say!!

 

Ambrose Fleming "we lived the dream"

[Steph]

>>Andy

 

One economist, forget which, says that companies cannot give money to anything. There assets belong to the shareholders and this means that either their customers or their shareholders are giving.

 

Just take a look at the recent advertisements on the telly for Sainsbury's and red nose day. The advertisments suggest that Sainsbury's donations, from their customers incidentally, is just a cynical marketing ploy. If it isn't why advertise the fact that they are giving?

 

Capitalism has no morality and therefore no conscience.

[PORTENCROSS]

" Ambrose Fleming" - now there lies a piece of nostalgia - once watched an Ambrose Fleming Old Boys game in the London Spartan League in the early 80's playing Ulysees FC at their Edmonton ground in my "hopping" days and, beside myself, there was only one other person watching the game and lo and behold, he had the proverbial dog obediently sitting alongside him !