Improving on the "beautiful game"

[RedRenesis]

Change nothing rule wise.

Only changes that should be made and will be made is adding Replay.

I agree. But only goal line replay.

Part of football is that you have 1 ref and 2 linesmen, if they see a call they call it. End of story. This is not the NFL/NHL.

This how the sport is. It has been for over 100 years, save a few slight rule alterations.

The only thing i'd say is that more card handed out to discourage diving.

Im all in with this but I think the only effective way that is going to be accomplished would be to add a second ref on the field.

[Corvus]

I think my favourite suggestion to improve soccer came, from off all places, Get Fuzzy, replace the refs with MMA fighters who, if a player fakes an injury, will inflict that injury upon them.

But seriously, the world's most popular sport doesn't have goal judges or instant replay for goals? That's some 18th century bull right there.

[taantumus]

I'm a little late to the party here, but I feel this always comes up when Americans happen to catch a game of soccer on TV. They tend to have new, innovative, ideas of how to make the sport better. They don't necessarily care about the sport itself but just feel like it should be changed to be more American. Doesn't matter that the rest of the world loves the game as it is.

Why wouldn't American people just worry about the sports they love?

But here we go, I'm being an idiot trying to refute just about everything:

1) the Suarez rule. I'm not too fond of the idea that you get a goal without the ball crossing the line. And I think this is linked to your second point: if you could get an automatic goal from every foul inside the 6 yard box, how much do you think players would dive in front of the goal?

2) I think referees handing out yellows to divers and post game bans from video checks are enough. Not that those bans happen very often, but there is the possibility. It could be more frequent.

Mandatory substitutions and red cards for getting hurt. Come on.

3) The reason why they don't have hockey and basketball style endless extra times in soccer is that the players are really tired after 2 hours of play. That's why they go for the penalties, playing forever with cramping legs and dehydrated bodies doesn't serve any purpose.

So I can't see how an endless corner kick competition would be very pretty. Lot's of dirty play in the box, referee constantly whistling, lots of arms spread and feelings/players hurt. Would take forever and would favor the team with taller players.

4) A win is a win and a draw is a draw. That's simple enough.

About those confused about the offside rule. The rule is there to help teams attack. The field is quite large and as opponents can't hang around your goal, your defenders can come up and support the attack. Without the rule we would pretty much lose the midfield battle and see teams play the long ball over the midfield all the time. No more beating the offside trap and getting one on one with the keeper.

And sorry for being such a jerk, I just can't help myself.

[Shmee]

I'm a little late to the party here, but I feel this always comes up when Americans happen to catch a game of soccer on TV. They tend to have new, innovative, ideas of how to make the sport better. They don't necessarily care about the sport itself but just feel like it should be changed to be more American. Doesn't matter that the rest of the world loves the game as it is.

Whether Europe's old guard likes it or not, there is nothing that FIFA wants more than to grow the game in the United States. Now, I'm with you that most of the rule change ideas proposed in this thread are horrid. But you didn't address at all the issue of adding more referees or using instant replay to assist those referees. I think it came through in this thread that that's what we all want most. And if that issue is not a concern to Europeans, that's ridiculous. How could anyone possibly be content with missed goals, unexplained whistles, and other shenanigans?

[taantumus]

Whether Europe's old guard likes it or not, there is nothing that FIFA wants more than to grow the game in the United States. Now, I'm with you that most of the rule change ideas proposed in this thread are horrid. But you didn't address at all the issue of adding more referees or using instant replay to assist those referees. I think it came through in this thread that that's what we all want most. And if that issue is not a concern to Europeans, that's ridiculous. How could anyone possibly be content with missed goals, unexplained whistles, and other shenanigans?

While FIFA definitely wants to grow the game in the US, they don't want to do it by making existing fans angry. The US has a lot of potential customers, but it will never be the biggest market for soccer.

As far as the refereeing goes, there are changes coming. Those goal line referees they tested last year in Europa League are coming to UCL this season and it might work very well. Not only will they be better positioned to judge whether the ball crossed the line, they will also add an extra pair of eyes to watch anything going on in the box. If experiences are positive, they could pretty quickly come to FIFA games as well.

Call me a purist, but I'm against in-match video refereeing. It's okay if it's used afterwards to hand suspensions and so forth, but I don't feel it belongs to soccer. Soccer is supposed to be a flowing game, not like American football where there are 15 second bursts of action and then 2 minutes of standing around. If every call is second guessed and rewinded by the refs, the game loses much of its charm. And pace.

BTW. If you have an offside inside the penalty box and later video refereeing shows that it wasn't, what is the ref supposed to do? Award a penalty?

[BB61]

The "Suarez" Rule. Definitely. You've deliberately broken the rules to stop a goal from going in. It's a goal.

Diving. There's no way to fairly police it except for the way it's currently being policed, but I do believe that a system along the lines of what you have would crack down on it a bit.

Penalties. Bring back the NASL / MLS pre-2000 shootout. You have five seconds to dribble in on the goalie. That adds more skill to it and it's not a crap shoot.

Points system. I'm not sure about league games, but I think that for the World Cup and tournaments where there are six than less group matches, you should just read across: W-D-L. So 3-0-0 > 0-3-0. Simple. And hell, if you like that enough, then you make a win 100 points, a draw 10, and a loss 1 for league games. There.

If you want a more radical idea, take the old NASL system.

6 points for a win, 3 for a tie, 0 for a loss.

1 point for every goal you score in a game, maximum of 3.

Of course, you'd have to update that so that a win would be worth at least three times more than a draw.

Let the players use their darn hands. Humans weren't built to run around kicking things - we have hands (and opposable thumbs) for a reason.

That's Gaelic Football. Not the same thing.

This is quite possibly the worst argument against soccer ever.

Yes, we have hands and opposable thumbs. Fine. Let's let baserunners pick up a ball and throw it into the stands so that they can get two extra bases. Or let's let shortstops tackle runners. Or let's let there be as many forward passes ahead of the line of scrimmage as is humanly possible. How about Sidney Crosby throwing down his stick, pick up the puck, and skate down the ice, and pegging it as hard as he can at the goalie?

Because that would all be stupid.

The concept of a sport where you can't use your hands is challenging. The same type of challenge that a batter faces when he tries to hit a ball with a three inch wide piece of wood past nine men in random positions. If that were so easy, why aren't batting averages in the .600's? It's the same challenge a quarterback faces when he tries to throw a ball to a moving target 50 yards away against 11 men who are trying to attack, among other people, himself. Why isn't he throwing a touchdown on every pass?

That's the sport, love it or hate it. If you can't get into it, then just say so.

[The_Admiral]

I think he was joking.

[BB61]

I think he was joking.

Considering the fact that at now fewer than four people have told me, straight faced, that that's what annoys them about soccer, I doubt it.