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Football's rulebook reimagined: Pundits propose radical changes to penalties, VAR, and offside
What if football's laws could be rewritten from scratch? In a speculative yet thought-provoking exercise, players, pundits, and referees have outlined sweeping reforms to address long-standing controversies-from penalty fairness to VAR delays and offside precision. The proposals, while hypothetical, challenge the sport's status quo and ask whether tradition should trump modernity.
Penalties: Rethinking 'scoring chances' and rebounds
One of the most contentious issues is the automatic award of penalties for fouls with minimal impact on goal-scoring opportunities. Critics argue that incidents like Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk tapping Brentford's Dango Ouattara on the edge of the box-resulting in a 78% chance of a goal via penalty-distort fairness. A proposed tweak: reserve spot-kicks for fouls that directly deny a scoring chance, defaulting to free-kicks elsewhere. Cynical fouls would still warrant penalties.
Another flashpoint is rebound goals from saved penalties. Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's referees chief, questions why teams get a "second chance" after squandering a high-percentage opportunity. Yet iconic moments-like Chloe Kelly's Euro 2025 winner or Xabi Alonso's 2005 Champions League rebound-highlight the drama at stake. Removing rebounds could also eliminate the penalty area's 'D' mark, used to enforce the 10-yard rule.
VAR overhaul: Challenges, time limits, or abolition?
Video Assistant Referee (VAR) remains polarizing, with complaints about delays and inconsistency. Alternatives include:
- Challenge system: Inspired by FIFA's Football Video Support trials (e.g., Spain's Liga F), teams could get two coach-initiated reviews per match. Everton's Jordan Pickford endorses this, comparing it to cricket's model to "keep the game flowing." Early trials, however, show referees still err at the monitor.
- Time limits: Broadcaster Gabby Logan suggests capping VAR checks at 90 seconds-"if it's not clear and obvious by then, it's not clear and obvious."
- Scrap VAR entirely: Ex-England defender Stephen Warnock cites lost goal celebrations, fan confusion, and persistent human error as reasons to revert to on-field decisions.
Offside: From millimeter precision to the 'eye test'
The offside rule, evolved from its 1863 origins, now hinges on marginal calls-often decided by AI-drawn lines and freeze-frames. Pundits propose two extremes:
- MLS-style reviews: Major League Soccer uses broadcast angles without digital lines, judging only "clear and obvious" errors. This avoids millimeter debates but risks TV networks superimposing their own (controversial) lines.
- Abolish offside: Referee Anthony Taylor recalls a prison-officer tournament with no offside-and "unbelievable" goal tallies. "Scrapping it might be the answer," he muses.
Handball: Back to 'deliberate or not'
The 2019 handball law rewrite-expanding from three lines to a full page-introduced terms like "proximity," "natural position," and "obvious position," baffling fans and players alike. Alan Shearer's solution: revert to the pre-2019 standard. "Is it deliberate handball or not? That's all that matters."
Time-wasting and tactical tweaks
To curb time-wasting, ideas include:
- Stoppage-time clocks: Guarantee 60 minutes of ball-in-play time by halting the clock for dead-ball periods. Critics note NFL's 60-minute games often exceed three hours, however.
- Tactical timeouts: Former Wales captain Ashley Williams suggests one timeout per half for managers to regroup-potentially reducing fake injuries.
- Self-pass free-kicks: Danny Murphy proposes letting players take quick free-kicks, throw-ins, or corners to themselves, speeding up play. His radical add-on: automatic penalties for diving.
Goal size and scoring incentives
With goalkeepers taller and balls lighter than in 1875, some-like former FIFA president Sepp Blatter-advocate widening goals by 50cm. Others focus on attacking rewards:
- Nedum Onuoha's bonus points: Teams earn extra league points for multiple goals (e.g., 4 points for 2 goals, 5 for 4).
- Gerard Piqué's zero-for-0-0: Scrap points for goalless draws to incentivize late attacks.
Cultural shift: Entertainment vs. tradition
The debate underscores a tension: Should football prioritize fairness, speed, and spectacle, or preserve its historical fabric? As former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger once floated, rewarding attacking play could transform tactics-but purists may resist. For now, these ideas remain in the realm of "what if."
"We're told VAR tech is uber-reliable, but we're in the hands of AI and a VAR who has to manually confirm a frame that might not be the exact point the ball has been played anyway."
BBC Sport analysis on offside technology
