Changes to the Current Football Rules

[Moshe Gariani]

I would introduce all sorts of new laws and playing regulations designed deliberately to improve levels of sportspersonship and entertainment for fans. Get rid of all the abusive behaviour, cheating, faking and timewasting. Yellow and red cards like confetti, suspensions and careers ended for those idiots unable to adjust quickly enough to the new requirements. And anything that made goals more likely would also be good in my book (e.g. clear daylight for offside and still advantage to striker if marginal... WHY NOT?).

Most, if not all, of what is required is fairly obvious and would have predictable and positive effects.

 

[Munkfish]

I would scrap the use of 3 subs and let managers make as many changes as they have on the bench. (Up to 7 in the football league.)

I would Introduce that if a player has to come off the pitch for treatment, when a foul is commited in the process, the player who comitted the foul also has to stay off the pitch for the same amount of time as the player. with a maximum of two minutes as this could be abused. however this could lead to more cheating.

I don't think there is anything I would bring back, the changes in football generally to make the game faster and more free flowing.

 

[Notters]

Laws

 

[GT49er]

- 1 rule scrapped / changed,
- 1 rule reintroduced and
- 1 rule added

- 1 rule scrapped / changed: Offside; without writing War and Peace on the subject, can't specifically go into details, but it would definitely include doing away with 'second phase' - don't like it, don't understand it, and I'm not sure all the referees and players do either.
- 1 rule reintroduced: well, changed, really. People don't pay to see 10 v. 11, or 9 v. 11, so change the cards rule so that for two yellows or a red you don't get sent off, but miss the next game. There could still be a double red and a sending off for a foul that amounted to ABH, or for a third yellow.
- 1 rule added: change from 45 minutes each way to 30 - but 30 with the ball actually in play; there could be a giant stopwatch displaying the minutes played, controlled by the ref, who would stop the clock the second the ball went out of play, or when play was stopped for a foul or an injury.

 

[rippleman]

The Laws cover most of the stuff but where it goes wrong is allowing each individual referee to interpret them. That is why, for example, goalkeepers waste so much time - because the referee allows them to. Similarly, when a player goes down and the ref knows that it isn't serious / head injury, and the ball is kicked out by a player, the referee should instruct that the game be re-started immediately and should then caution the player if they don't get on and re-start the game. That will stop all the precious prima donnas rolling about because their hair got messed up.

Adopting the NFL system of independent timekeepers would be a good idea.

Soon after I passed my refs exams (at 15), I was at the Goldstone and Michael Robinson ran up to a linesman and screamed, right in his face, "You f'ing, blonde haired w'ker". Soon after I was speaking with a FL referee and recounted the incident. He told me that FL officials had been instructed not to take action against players using foul & abusive.

I don't believe that there should be room for "interpretation" or "discretion". The game has LAWS, and those laws should be followed at all levels of the game for consistency and to enhance the spectators enjoyment.

One thing I would love to see is multiple match balls. My enjoyment of the last World Cup was enhanced by the fact that every ballboy/girl appeared to have a ball in the hands so the second one went out of play, another was there to restart immediately. Makes for a far better watch.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

I would introduce all sorts of new laws and playing regulations designed deliberately to improve levels of sportspersonship and entertainment for fans. Get rid of all the abusive behaviour, cheating, faking and timewasting. Yellow and red cards like confetti, suspensions and careers ended for those idiots unable to adjust quickly enough to the new requirements. And anything that made goals more likely would also be good in my book (e.g. clear daylight for offside and still advantage to striker if marginal... WHY NOT?).

Most, if not all, of what is required is fairly obvious and would have predictable and positive effects.

The list is potentially long but I would prioritise:

1. All the niggardly attempts at cheating such as diving, holding on, shirt-pulling, stealing distance at throw-ins and free-kicks, etc. Basically outlawed from the game. Zero tolerance leading quickly to free-kicks conceded, cards, dismissal, and suspensions.
2. Timewasting. Basically outlawed from the game. Zero tolerance with a very low threshold. Players required to "get on with it" at all times. The referee is the sole arbiter of what he or she considers to be deliberate timewasting. First offence is yellow card. Second offence is red card. Players learn quickly not to take any chances. Special attention paid to goalkeepers (normal expectation to "get on with it" as quickly as reasonably possible) and players leaving the field when substituted (normal expectation is that they jog off in a timely fashion - if injured they leave the pitch at the nearest point). Crucially, the referee is empowered, and expected, to add more time on in a completely arbitrary fashion in response to perceived timewasting - 10 minutes added time commonplace, and added to further, if teams that are holding on insist on continued "timewasting".

 

[The Stout Yeoman]

In the case of a slow substituions ... the oncoming player should be made to enter the field of play at the same speed as the off going player ..(ie snails pace in the case of Lansbury on Saturday)... and play should resume without the oncoming player in position ...

 

[Easy 10]

I would scrap the use of 3 subs and let managers make as many changes as they have on the bench. (Up to 7 in the football league.)

SEVEN ? Yikes.

Can you IMAGINE the endless procession of substitutions there would be in the last few minutes as a manager seeks to preserve a narrow lead ?

 

[Tricky Dicky]

SEVEN ? Yikes.

Can you IMAGINE the endless procession of substitutions there would be in the last few minutes as a manager seeks to preserve a narrow lead ?

Plus you ending up with mostly a new team from the one that started the game - rather against the spirit of using subs at all IMO. Chaos I think.

 

[wolfie]

No subs should be allowed after the additional time board has been shown.

 

[wolfie]

Too many games are ruined by senseless sendings off. Second yellow card should = sin binning. Players straight red carded should be sent off, but substitutes allowed. Player sent off gets longer ban though (ie punishes the player NOT the team and the fans)

 

[virtual22]

Mine would be - the game carries on when a substitution is made - this happened in handball during the olympics and worked a treat. Lets face it, the 4th official does pretty much nothing for 88 minutes per game. He can manage it and if a new player comes on before he is meant to he just gets a yellow card. Alternative to this, the player being subbed has to leave the pitch by the nearest sideline/touchline.

Also, points are given for cards, 1 for yellow, two for reds. When a team reaches a certain number they are deducted a league point. Additionally, points are given if after a game the video shows a player dived (should sort that issue out in one foul sweep).

Finally, refs should start enforcing the current rules, defenders "seeing the ball out" is obstruction; goalkeepers arsing about it time wasting; so on and so forth.

 

[happypig]

I haven't given it much thought but....

1. Only the captain is allowed to speak to the referee and he must call the referee "sir". Any other player speaking to the referee will be sent off.
2. All games shall be played on a Saturday at 3 PM or Tuesday/Wednesday at 7.30 PM.
3. No football will be televised live except the FA cup final. If you want to see a live game buy a ticket.
4. Clubs shall have two kits, Home and Away and may only change the kit design in a leap year.
5. The playoffs will be abolished because they're a lottery. If you came sixth, you're too shit to go up (except under the "too shit to stay up rule").The bottom three clubs of each league shall be relegated. In addition any club failing to get more points than the third from bottom club will also be relegated. In the event of more than three clubs being relegated, the equivalent number of clubs form the league below will be promoted (known as the "too shit to stay up" rule).
6. If a player is sent off, all his wages will be paid to charity. In addition, half his manager's wages will also go to charity. There will be no limit to this, ie if three players get sent off, the manager should make up the difference himself.
7. Every match will be recorded reviewed by a panel of three independant scrutineers and any player seen to have dived will be retrospectively banned for three matches.
8. England will send three teams into the Champions League: The winners of the Premier League, the winners of the Championship and the F.A. Cup winners. Entry to the Europa leage will be two Premier League teams: the team scoring the most goals and the team with the best disciplinary record.
9. FA cup semi finals will not be played at Wembley.
10. In the event of a club going into administration, they shall be immediately expelled from the league and thier remaining fixtures will be played by an "invitation 11"
11. ITV will not be allowed to feature football of any level.
12. There 48 counties and 92 League clubs. Each county shall be allowed a maximum of two clubs (the oldest). In the event of a county having more than two clubs, the next oldest shall be moved to the nearest county with less than two clubs.Unitary authorities are stupid and so they shall just count as part of the county they are in.
London, contrary to what every Londoner thinks, isn't a special case and it will be allowed two clubs as well (one for English and one for foreigners).
The 13.Welsh clubs can sod off to the League of Wales.
14.Change the corner/goal kick rule so that, irrespective of who played the ball, if a contested ball goes out its a corner, if uncontested it's a goal kick.

 

[Worthingite]

My rule change would be shamelessly stolen from the yanks- have a draft system in place for young players, across the whole 92 clubs for players under the age of, say, 20. First pick to the newly promoted from the conference, last to the PL champions. If the premier league teams wanted the best young players they would have to pay a set amount for that particular pick - eg if Man City wanted pick no 1 it would cost them (for example) £5m to be given to Luton. That way money's distributed evenly, young players are given a chance, and lower league clubs would either benefit from a cash injection or be able to have some quality youngsters coming through. No doubt it would be abused, and loopholes found, but it has to be a fairer way of distributing good young players and cash??

 

[essbee]

None of these very good and plausible suggestions will ever become adopted for some simple reasons:

EUFA, FIFA , FA and FL are a bunch of backward, heads-up-their-own-arse to*sers who have no interest in doing
anything other than ripping off "fans" while lining their own f******* pockets. Talentless morons, most of whom have
never kicked a ball in their lives.

 

[Easy 10]

Mine would be - the game carries on when a substitution is made - this happened in handball during the olympics and worked a treat. Lets face it, the 4th official does pretty much nothing for 88 minutes per game. He can manage it and if a new player comes on before he is meant to he just gets a yellow card. Alternative to this, the player being subbed has to leave the pitch by the nearest sideline/touchline.

Also, points are given for cards, 1 for yellow, two for reds. When a team reaches a certain number they are deducted a league point. Additionally, points are given if after a game the video shows a player dived (should sort that issue out in one foul sweep).

Finally, refs should start enforcing the current rules, defenders "seeing the ball out" is obstruction; goalkeepers arsing about it time wasting; so on and so forth.

Horrible idea. Putting a teams league points tally in the hands of referees would lead to complete and utter carnage. Imagine the scenario - Last game of the season, a team needs a point to stay up and is hanging on desperately, but is on the brink of a one point deduction with one more card - would you REALLY want a referee being put in that position, where going into that game, he knows his decision will send a team down, regardless of the result of the game ?

Too much at stake to put that kind of power into a referees hands.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

IMHO there are too many subs. Remember when only one sub was allowed? That meant that he was not a G/keeper. If the keeper got injured every team had a player who fancied himself in goal and did his best .

You may say that it reduced the game to a lottery, but it was certainly nail-biting fun! ....At most then, 2 subs, one of which is the 'keeper.

I would bring back the 'keeper being able to pick up a loose ball, take 4 or 5 steps and clear it down field

 

[Jovis]

- 1 rule scrapped / changed,
- 1 rule reintroduced and
- 1 rule added

- 1 rule scrapped / changed: Offside; without writing War and Peace on the subject, can't specifically go into details, but it would definitely include doing away with 'second phase' - don't like it, don't understand it, and I'm not sure all the referees and players do either.
- 1 rule reintroduced: well, changed, really. People don't pay to see 10 v. 11, or 9 v. 11, so change the cards rule so that for two yellows or a red you don't get sent off, but miss the next game. There could still be a double red and a sending off for a foul that amounted to ABH, or for a third yellow.
- 1 rule added: change from 45 minutes each way to 30 - but 30 with the ball actually in play; there could be a giant stopwatch displaying the minutes played, controlled by the ref, who would stop the clock the second the ball went out of play, or when play was stopped for a foul or an injury.

The last point is an interesting one - the Guardian did a study a couple of years ago and for some teams in the Premier League the average amount of time that the ball was actually in play was as little as 58 minutes. The most was 66 minutes. Hardly value for money. This season in particular, opposition time wasting has really got on my nerves.

 

[studio150]

In the case of a slow substituions ... the oncoming player should be made to enter the field of play at the same speed as the off going player ..(ie snails pace in the case of Lansbury on Saturday)... and play should resume without the oncoming player in position ...

I seem to recall Ashley Barnes getting a yellow card for leaving the field too slowly when being subbed, but have never seen it again. Perhaps the solution is more yellows for this form of time wasting.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Make a score draw worth two points.

I would have a bonus system for the amount of goals/clean sheets - a bit like Rugby.