Arsene Wenger proposes a change to the offside rule that would mean attackers are onside if any part of their body is in line with the last outfield defender.
Good question! The point is to set a limit to when you can start running. The offside rule doesn’t penalise you for outrunning your opponent, but for starting to run too early.
The point is that, until the ball is played, you can’t go behind the defenders. Specially, this prevents attackers from just lurking around near the opponents goal.
Why do we want to prevent that you might ask? It turns out that if you’re allowed to just hang around the opponents goal and wait for the ball, it’s a superior tactic to do so. However, it also makes the game much less dynamic, and typically leads to teams just lugging the ball across the field, hoping their attacker gets it. This is a lot less fun to both watch (for obvious reasons) and play, because as a striker your forced to spend most of your time not being involved in the game, and as a defender your forced to spend most of your time just following around the striker way back in your own half.
In short, without the offside rule, the game becomes much less fun, because it forces you to spend a lot of time and energy on a tactic that amounts to “constantly run away from the defender/chase the attacker”. Having the offside rule means you actually have to outplay or outrun your opponent in order to score.
Using an extreme example I think they mean a striker shouldn’t be able to run straight to the opposition goal line when play starts and hang around there all match just waiting to pounce and/or disrupting the goal keeper. This is called goal-hanging and was very much a thing until the offside rule was brought in to stop it.
I doubt anyone would want to penalise displays of superior athleticism, that would be completely antithetical to sport in general.
I don’t know much about this sport, and I don’t really belong here, but my genuine question (that I mean no ill will by) is this: why not?
Why should I be penalized for getting there first? Like, just be faster, losers.
(My son plays this game, and I don’t understand the offside rule at all. I don’t get upset by it, of course, they’re having fun so it’s all good.)
Good question! The point is to set a limit to when you can start running. The offside rule doesn’t penalise you for outrunning your opponent, but for starting to run too early.
The point is that, until the ball is played, you can’t go behind the defenders. Specially, this prevents attackers from just lurking around near the opponents goal.
Why do we want to prevent that you might ask? It turns out that if you’re allowed to just hang around the opponents goal and wait for the ball, it’s a superior tactic to do so. However, it also makes the game much less dynamic, and typically leads to teams just lugging the ball across the field, hoping their attacker gets it. This is a lot less fun to both watch (for obvious reasons) and play, because as a striker your forced to spend most of your time not being involved in the game, and as a defender your forced to spend most of your time just following around the striker way back in your own half.
In short, without the offside rule, the game becomes much less fun, because it forces you to spend a lot of time and energy on a tactic that amounts to “constantly run away from the defender/chase the attacker”. Having the offside rule means you actually have to outplay or outrun your opponent in order to score.
Oh I get it now. Thank you!
Using an extreme example I think they mean a striker shouldn’t be able to run straight to the opposition goal line when play starts and hang around there all match just waiting to pounce and/or disrupting the goal keeper. This is called goal-hanging and was very much a thing until the offside rule was brought in to stop it.
I doubt anyone would want to penalise displays of superior athleticism, that would be completely antithetical to sport in general.