A few things have over the last 2 games have made me think about rule changes for the better in football.

1, Offside - Would the game benefit from a change allowing players to be offside. It could mean a specialised defensive position but could inject more goals into the game and rewardattacking sides!

2, Obstruction - Why is it never enforced when a defender shields the ball from the attacking player 6 yards or more from the touchline knowing the ball will go out and showing no intention to play it.

3, Bookings - A player is booked for celebrating by pulling the shirt over the head briefly in front of a wall no intimidating opposition fans and yet a player already booked commits 2 fouls in quick succesion after receiving a yellow but esacpes punishment only to be subbed 2 minuteslater.Kicking the ball away should be a booking but only sometimes. Consistency is all thats needed.

Have to agree with you on all three of those Stewart.

The law, as they say, is an ass!

point 2 realy pisses me aff.

back in the day youd scrape yer studs right down his calf muscle and get no more than a wagging finger fae the ref.

Stewart

1 I think what's needed is a clearer interpretation of the offside rule. At the moment a player really does not know whether he can 'get away' with being in an offside position or not. It also places officials in an invidious position over the application of the rule.

2 I know the incident you are referring to. Montrose defender shielded the ball to allow it to go out. As the rules stand this maneouvre was perfectly legal, as long as the ball , and in fact I thought that on that basis it was a sound piece of defensive play. That being said, the 'shielding the ball' issue irritates me watching as a supporter or as a neutral, and I do wish the authorities would make playing the ball an essential part of such a tactic.

3. Regarding your comments on another thread, you may well be correct that pulling the shirt over the head shouldn't incur a booking. That being said I do find it an irritating way of celebrating, be it my side or another team doing it!
The art of finger wagging by the referee seems to have stifled these days. A firm word early on is often better for the game than waving of cards.

I can't help feeling it might help if some footballers behaved like adults more foten rather than spoilt kids!

Drogba (rolling on ground)- "Boo,hoo! He gave me a nosebleed!"
Referee - " Get up boy! Stop whining and go and get it cleaned up!"

Rob N

My opinions are 1) Offside- many years ago, offside was abolished in hockey -field not ice- which many people thought would lead to teams leaving a player on the opponents goal line. This is not the case maybe in the kiddies game but not at senior level.
My opinion - follow the hockey trend.

2- bookings, as mentioned on football focus yesterday, why not follow the rugby rules where only the captain is allowed to besiege the ref. That way you avoid the poor ref being swamped by protesting players. I also like the idea from Torquay to sack their own players who continue to dive and con refs into giving penalties. Robben of Chelsea would be out on his arse in a week if Chelsea enforced that.

1) try being in the middle, on your own & award offsides!! Sometimes its a total no win situation!!

As for interpretation, It really hasn't changed much. But if you listen to so called "experts" they make something simple sound soooooo hard!!

2) As long as the player is within playing distance, he can "shield" the ball. Kenny Dalgliesh done this for years & was an expert at it. But as he was an attacking player, no-one ever said anything. To be fair, both teams done that at some stage yesterday.

3)Totally agree about the over head shirt thing but they all kow the law (been in place 2 years now). After scoring a goal, who's thinking about that!!

Can see a few comments on "Actve or inactive" re offside coming!!

2. There's a difference between being in control of the ball and sheer negative obstruction. I've seen the ball being ten yards away from the defender and he's not so much ushering the ball but with outspread arms just blocking the attacker from getting near the ball.

I think that rule needs looked at. The back pass change was a good one and a change to sheilding a ball out of the park would make the game more exciting. Maybe 'being in control' should only mean when the defender has touched the ball ?? Then he'd be forced into playing football or using his players/keeper to get out of danger.

Just a thought.

You could change it so that if a player is shielding the ball, he's fair game to be kicked!

What gets me is when the defender shields the ball out of play and a referee will almost always give a foul if the attacking player tries to go round him!