Laws Of The Game

Keith Putnam · Jun 29, 2019

Given all the debate going on in the 2019 Women's World Cup thread, I thought maybe we should have a dedicated thread for the discussion of the Laws of the Game.

We can argue about what a handball is, the effects of VAR, recent or proposed updates to the Laws, philosophical issues, etc.

IFAB, the body which essentially acts as the custodian of the Laws, has recently released an app for referencing them.

https://www.theifab.com/logapp/

Ulrich · Jun 29, 2019

Keith Putnam said:
Given all the debate going on in the 2019 Women's World Cup thread, I thought maybe we should have a dedicated thread to the discussion of the Laws of the Game.

We can argue about what a handball is, the effects of VAR, recent or proposed updates to the Laws, philosophical issues, etc.

IFAB, the body which essentially acts as the custodian of the Laws, has recently released an app for referencing them.

https://www.theifab.com/logapp/

At first I though IFAB was a

FootyLovin abbreviation

Keith Putnam · Jul 9, 2019

I know we get a lot of shit about the dimensions at YS being small, but honestly it's a bit shocking how much disparity IFAB allows for the width of the pitch (Law 1 sec. 3):

Length (goal line):

minimum 45 m (50 yds)
maximum 90 m (100 yds)

That's a lot of potential disorientation for a player who could hypothetically go play on a pitch literally half as wide as the last one they played on.

Oddly, if you measure your pitch in yards you're allowed 23% of leeway in the length (min. 100 yds, max 130 yds), but if measured in meters you get 25% (min. 90 m, max 120 m).

Dimensions for international matches are more tightly constrained, as per Law 1 sec. 4.

adam · Jul 10, 2019

Keith Putnam said:
I know we get a lot of shit about the dimensions at YS being small, but honestly it's a bit shocking how much disparity IFAB allows for the width of the pitch (Law 1 sec. 3):

Length (goal line):

minimum 45 m (50 yds)
maximum 90 m (100 yds)

That's a lot of potential disorientation for a player who could hypothetically go play on a pitch literally half as wide as the last one they played on.

Oddly, if you measure your pitch in yards you're allowed 23% of leeway in the length (min. 100 yds, max 130 yds), but if measured in meters you get 25% (min. 90 m, max 120 m).

Dimensions for international matches are more tightly constrained, as per Law 1 sec. 4.

Is it the length or the width they complain about? Either way it’s pretty ridiculous there isn’t 1 uniform size for the pitch. Why not also allow leeway in ball size or goal size? Our league won’t even allow long sleeves anymore, but the pitch can be lengthened?

If a pitch doesn’t fit in an old stadium, or make 5-6 exceptions for grandfathered in English stadiums that can’t be used for international play. Or crazy concept, remove some seats and fix it. Dumb rule.

Gotham Gator · Jul 10, 2019

As a practical matter, all major soccer leagues conform to the FIFA international standard, which is 110-120 yards long and 70-80 yards wide. See below for the MLS rule on field size.

Yankee Stadium is the minimum 110 x 70. The size varies a bit across the league but is mostly at or near 115 x 75, which is about 12% larger by area than our pitch. No other team is as narrow as we are - Houston is 73 yards; Seattle, Toronto and Dallas are 74; Montreal is 77, and the rest are 75. Like us, Portland is 110 yards long. Seattle is 114 yards. Everyone else is 115 to 120.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Soccer_stadiums

PLAYING FIELD DIMENSIONS AND MARKINGS: The match will be played on a field that remains the same size throughout the MLS Regular Season and Post-Season, unless a change is approved by the League and the Visiting Team is notified at least 72 hours in advance of the match. The dimensions and markings of the field will conform to MLS standards and The IFAB Laws of the Game. No logos on the field, goal nets or corner flags will be allowed without prior League, and where applicable, United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) written approval.

Except where MLS-approved stadium design renders it impossible or impractical, the playing field will be at a minimum 70 yards wide by 110 yards long.

Seth · Jul 14, 2019

Keith Putnam said:
I know we get a lot of shit about the dimensions at YS being small, but honestly it's a bit shocking how much disparity IFAB allows for the width of the pitch (Law 1 sec. 3):

Length (goal line):

minimum 45 m (50 yds)
maximum 90 m (100 yds)

That's a lot of potential disorientation for a player who could hypothetically go play on a pitch literally half as wide as the last one they played on.

Oddly, if you measure your pitch in yards you're allowed 23% of leeway in the length (min. 100 yds, max 130 yds), but if measured in meters you get 25% (min. 90 m, max 120 m).

Dimensions for international matches are more tightly constrained, as per Law 1 sec. 4.

Still waiting to see a (perfectly legal) ~~50 x 50~~ 100 x 100 soccer field. Who's with me?!

ETA: hat tip to

Keith Putnam for the correct size. I knew it was square but I had it a bit too small.

Keith Putnam · Jul 14, 2019

Seth said:
Still waiting to see a (perfectly legal) 50 x 50 soccer field. Who's with me?!

Where are you getting a legal 50 for the touchline? Minimum legal (non-international) size (in yards) would be 100 yds. x 50 yds.

You could create a legal non-international pitch that was 100x100, though.

Seth · Jul 14, 2019

Keith Putnam said:
Where are you getting a legal 50 for the touchline? Minimum legal (non-international) size (in yards) would be 100 yds. x 50 yds.

You could create a legal non-international pitch that was 100x100, though.

Oops, sorry, you're right. That was what I meant.

Gotham Gator · Jul 17, 2019

https://twitter.com/x/status/1151490250784550914

Shwafta · Jul 17, 2019

Gotham Gator said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1151490250784550914

I mean, the only reason that exists is that it must have happened at one point, right?

Seth · May 9, 2020

Been watching Korean baseball this morning on ESPN and their chyron is saying FIFA is temporarily going to allow 5 subs this year, with an option to just keep that permanently. Decision to implement that is up to each individual league though.

413Blue · Jun 17, 2021

Infantino recently mentioned that FIFA is currently trialing a change to the offside rule. The study is being lead by Arsene Wenger and is apparently already being tested in some places.
The proposed rule would modify the current rule from any part of the body that can score a goal is beyond the second to last defender is offside, to any part of the body that can score a goal is level with second to last defender is onside. So a forward could be beyond the defender except for a trailing foot and now be onside.

This could be a fairly significant rule change even though it is slight. A step or two is massive in a lot of situations especially at the top levels. I'm curious if teams would develop faster defenders or more positionally/tactically skilled defenders or both.

I'm not sure how seriously this change is being considered, but I think it would have a large impact on the game.

Article from March. Apparently this isn't a new revelation, I just heard it for the first time from someone mentioning to me that he brought it up in a recent speech.

mgarbowski · Jun 17, 2021

413Blue said:
Infantino recently mentioned that FIFA is currently trialing a change to the offside rule. The study is being lead by Arsene Wenger and is apparently already being tested in some places.
The proposed rule would modify the current rule from any part of the body that can score a goal is beyond the second to last defender is offside, to any part of the body that can score a goal is level with second to last defender is onside. So a forward could be beyond the defender except for a trailing foot and now be onside.

This could be a fairly significant rule change even though it is slight. A step or two is massive in a lot of situations especially at the top levels. I'm curious if teams would develop faster defenders or more positionally/tactically skilled defenders or both.

I'm not sure how seriously this change is being considered, but I think it would have a large impact on the game.

Article from March. Apparently this isn't a new revelation, I just heard it for the first time from someone mentioning to me that he brought it up in a recent speech.

I'm ok with the change and making things slightly more in favor of offense in offsides situations, but I'm not sure it helps with the VAR problem where officials mark a goal offside based on tiny margins only visible on review. We moved the line a few inches, but that phenomenon will still happen with the new rule.

LionNYC · Jun 17, 2021

413Blue said:
Infantino recently mentioned that FIFA is currently trialing a change to the offside rule. The study is being lead by Arsene Wenger and is apparently already being tested in some places.
The proposed rule would modify the current rule from any part of the body that can score a goal is beyond the second to last defender is offside, to any part of the body that can score a goal is level with second to last defender is onside. So a forward could be beyond the defender except for a trailing foot and now be onside.

This could be a fairly significant rule change even though it is slight. A step or two is massive in a lot of situations especially at the top levels. I'm curious if teams would develop faster defenders or more positionally/tactically skilled defenders or both.

I'm not sure how seriously this change is being considered, but I think it would have a large impact on the game.

Article from March. Apparently this isn't a new revelation, I just heard it for the first time from someone mentioning to me that he brought it up in a recent speech.

Wow, so any part of the body that can score just needs to be onside for the goal to stand. Yeah, the offside trap may be dead.

SoupInNYC · Jun 17, 2021

413Blue said:
Infantino recently mentioned that FIFA is currently trialing a change to the offside rule. The study is being lead by Arsene Wenger and is apparently already being tested in some places.
The proposed rule would modify the current rule from any part of the body that can score a goal is beyond the second to last defender is offside, to any part of the body that can score a goal is level with second to last defender is onside. So a forward could be beyond the defender except for a trailing foot and now be onside.

This could be a fairly significant rule change even though it is slight. A step or two is massive in a lot of situations especially at the top levels. I'm curious if teams would develop faster defenders or more positionally/tactically skilled defenders or both.

I'm not sure how seriously this change is being considered, but I think it would have a large impact on the game.

Article from March. Apparently this isn't a new revelation, I just heard it for the first time from someone mentioning to me that he brought it up in a recent speech.

Let's litigate the language further. It says "any part of the body that is level...is onside". So if the attacker has a trailing left foot that is onside, but everything else is off, and he scores with the right foot or a header, is it onside or offside?

ETA: I'm probably overthinking this because as I reread the original rule, it would make it so if the right foot is offside, then the left foot is on. And that's not how it works today.

Gotham Gator · Jun 17, 2021

Bad idea. Doesn't solve the problem it's meant to solve and will change the game significantly.

Schwallacus · Jun 17, 2021

SoupInNYC said:
Let's litigate the language further. It says "any part of the body that is level...is onside". So if the attacker has a trailing left foot that is onside, but everything else is off, and he scores with the right foot or a header, is it onside or offside?

ETA: I'm probably overthinking this because as I reread the original rule, it would make it so if the right foot is offside, then the left foot is on. And that's not how it works today.

I don't know if you follow hockey, but I assume it will be a similar premise where if a player "drags" their foot to be in line with the defender, they will be "onside"

Would definitely be a interesting add, but I side with

Gotham Gator in that it wouldn't really solve the issue but just bring a whole new and chaotic element to the game.

FredMertz · Jun 17, 2021

This just changes what will be analyzed to the millimeter, it doesn't change the fact that things will be analyzed to the millimeter.

Making the line much thicker is actually the best idea. If the line was a yard thick and ARs were encouraged to make calls again, the only calls that would be overturned would be ones that were demonstrably and egregiously terrible. And isn't that what we've wanted all along?

I also think we should be pretty close to, if not already at, the point where trackers in the boots and trackers in the balls should be able to make near-instantaneous offside calls. IMHO, if the calls are made immediately people will be much more accepting. Like in tennis with the (far less complicated) line calls.

Fantazma · Jun 17, 2021

413Blue said:
Infantino recently mentioned that FIFA is currently trialing a change to the offside rule. The study is being lead by Arsene Wenger and is apparently already being tested in some places.
The proposed rule would modify the current rule from any part of the body that can score a goal is beyond the second to last defender is offside, to any part of the body that can score a goal is level with second to last defender is onside. So a forward could be beyond the defender except for a trailing foot and now be onside.

This could be a fairly significant rule change even though it is slight. A step or two is massive in a lot of situations especially at the top levels. I'm curious if teams would develop faster defenders or more positionally/tactically skilled defenders or both.

I'm not sure how seriously this change is being considered, but I think it would have a large impact on the game.

Article from March. Apparently this isn't a new revelation, I just heard it for the first time from someone mentioning to me that he brought it up in a recent speech.

i heard about this but i dont think it resolves anything. You can marginally drag your foot to still be onside and it will be debated if you really onside or not. Just how its argued now if someone is marginally in line or not.

FootyLovin · Jun 18, 2021

FredMertz said:
This just changes what will be analyzed to the millimeter, it doesn't change the fact that things will be analyzed to the millimeter.

This.

FredMertz said:
Making the line much thicker is actually the best idea. If the line was a yard thick and ARs were encouraged to make calls again, the only calls that would be overturned would be ones that were demonstrably and egregiously terrible.

But not this.

It all does the same thing. We will argue about millimeters no matter what. Personally, I accept this and don't really care. It's part of the game.

The rule change will just mean a pendulum swing to more advantage for offense. I like that.

Next up. Please give 1 delay of game and then yellow cards for disrupting the ball (picking up, tossing onto field, holding away from other players, etc) after foul calls or out of bounds. Would also advantage more offense and just make the game better, more entertaining.

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