The Ref Stop

Dutch FA consider abandoning offsides at grassroots football

lincs22

lincs22

Supply League Observer
Staff member
Observer/Tutor
Guardian article re ceasing offsides

With the number of problems it causes, at least they are thinking about doing something.

FIFA won't allow, but would you be happy to stop offsides at Step 7 and below, all Sunday football and all junior football?
 
The Ref Stop
How bizarre! :wide:

And no, I wouldn't.

Even at Dog & Duck first VI level, it would dramatically alter how the game is played and coached.

A bit like walking football only with 22 players and sprinting allowed.

Long ball game anyone? :rolleyes::wall:
 
Problem = Behaviour
Solution = Nonsense
It might work better to just do away with Club Assistants. I'd be undecided about that idea
Doing away with offside is desperate however
 
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When i was in the forces we played some friendly no-offsides games and the amount of goals scored was very high.

As a ref there was less to do but there was a lot more long ball football.
 
I wonder what no offsides looks like in elite football. As everyone seems to be trying to get space and everyone presses hard. Football is a very different game now than when offsides were first introduced.
 
In scotland grassroots football our club assistants only deal with ball in/out of play. Referee has 100% responsibility for offside. And it works fine. A general acceptance from everyone that it’s incredibly difficult to get right every time means I can count on one hand the number of ‘issues’ post match with complaints over dodgy offside calls.

It’s not broken so no need to fix it in my opinion.
 
OldNavyRef said:
I wonder what no offsides looks like in elite football. As everyone seems to be trying to get space and everyone presses hard. Football is a very different game now than when offsides were first introduced.
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And OS has changed dramatically since then, too.

The old NASL in the US was a bit of a study in lacking OS. The NASL (with an exemption from FIFA, which was willing to do almost anything to try to get a league rolling in the US), used an OS line 35 yards out, with no OS in the midfield area. The (predictable, I think) result was defense playing farther back and encouraged bunkering. The biggest upside was it allowed out of shape, aged out star forwards to come to the NASL and expend less energy to play, as they never had to farther than 35 yards from the goal.

Dumping OS (or even the daylight idea) would radically change how defenses play.
 
These are two quotes from the newspaper article.

"The KNVB said abolishing offsides at the lower levels of the game, where there are no KNVB officials and matches are flagged by club members, could lead to an end to the threats and violence in amateur football in the country."

"Last season, 1,864 matches were stopped because of violent incidents, an increase of 11% compared with the previous season and up 58% over a five-year period."

Having read the article in the newspaper, the Dutch FA are striving to eradicate threats and violence in the game. Whilst this is an admirable stance, we are without full details as to the reasons for the matches to being stopped, (assuming that 'stopped' means abandoned). It is difficult to believe that so many games are 'stopped' because of disputed offside decisions.

RichardRef said:
In scotland grassroots football our club assistants only deal with ball in/out of play. Referee has 100% responsibility for offside. And it works fine. A general acceptance from everyone that it’s incredibly difficult to get right every time means I can count on one hand the number of ‘issues’ post match with complaints over dodgy offside calls.

It’s not broken so no need to fix it in my opinion.
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Exactly as RichardRef says above, if it's not broken don't fix it.

How many of us have experienced threats and violence in some form during a match - most of us probably have, though not necessarily directed at us. How often has such behaviour resulted directly from a disputed offside decision ? I suspect rarely, if ever.
 
OldNavyRef said:
I wonder what no offsides looks like in elite football. As everyone seems to be trying to get space and everyone presses hard. Football is a very different game now than when offsides were first introduced.
Click to expand...
I'm wondering what you mean by "when offsides were first introduced."

Are you talking about when the first Laws of Association Football were adopted in 1863?

Because even before then, all the other sets of rules, like Cambridge, Eton and Uppingham for example, had a version of an offside law. The Sheffield Rules didn't have an offside rule for a while but that wasn't the most universally used set of laws or rules.

Or are you referring to the various village football games that were played, starting in the middle ages, which were little more than an organized brawl with a ball involved somewhere?
 
Peter Grove said:
Or are you referring to the various village football games that were played, starting in the middle ages, which were little more than an organized brawl with a ball involved somewhere?
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I don't know about village football in the middle ages. This sounds like Sunday morning 'Pub' football !!
 
Peter Grove said:
I'm wondering what you mean by "when offsides were first introduced."

Are you talking about when the first Laws of Association Football were adopted in 1863?

Because even before then, all the other sets of rules, like Cambridge, Eton and Uppingham for example, had a version of an offside law. The Sheffield Rules didn't have an offside rule for a while but that wasn't the most universally used set of laws or rules.

Or are you referring to the various village football games that were played, starting in the middle ages, which were little more than an organized brawl with a ball involved somewhere?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I didn't think about my comment that much.
 
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