Offsides in soccer is a stupid rule, amirite?

If there were no offside, the opponent could just have one of their players hanging out by your goalie the whole game. Now, you've got to keep one of your players back to guard, then they send in another one, etc., etc. Before you know it, you have just two huge clusters of players by each goal. Wouldn't make for much fun to watch.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Not necessarily. Basketball doesn't have an offsides rule and you never see players cherry picking.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Field of play size are slightly different.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Basketball doesn't have an "offsides" rule but they do have the three-second rule which has the same function. Can't be the paint longer than that for the same purpose as soccer players can't be too close to the opposite goal.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Also the space is much tighter so man-to-man defence is viable. Can't do that on a 100m field. An interesting difference between the US and Europe is that in Europe 3s rule applies only for the offence. Defence can park their big guys permanently on the paint changing the game drastically. Really cuts the wings from star players and forces the teams to operate more tactically.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That's because a single player can cover the length of a basketball court much easier than a soccer player can cover the length of a pitch. This is a terrible comparison. With how dynamic scoring is in basketball there's no need for an offsides rule.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Though, ice hockey is also played on a smaller arena, yet they have offsides.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

A basketball court is significantly smaller than a football pitch.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Tell me you've never played football without telling me you've never played.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

explain your reasoning, not trying to be rude just genuinely curious why the rule is in place

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Without the rule, most games would just turn into the ball getting kicked super far every time instead of allowing actual plays to develop. It would make it super repetitive and boring

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This may be the only good reason for offsides that I've seen here

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's literally the actual reason

by Anonymous 1 year ago

We should also get rid of offsides in american football. If the Oline isn't ready too bad.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

But keep the false start penalty?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Nah. American football is weak now. Too many rules.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

While we're at it. get rid of the blue lines and offsides in hockey. Allow an offensive forward to permanently park himself near the goalie and wait for a cross ice pass. Goalies are superhuman anyway, they can split themselves into two separate people. That's the same reason for offsides in soccer.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Have you ever played or watched football?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

i've watched it a bit, however in other sports specifically american football there's a reason hail marys do not work often because it is fairly easy to defend one person on the opposite end of the field. In every other major sport there's reason why you don't intentionally put yourself man down on defense for a potential quick goal.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The rule is there for a reason. Soccer in general is stupid. Competitive sports are stupid. Except volleyball, tennis, and ping pong. Contact sports like soccer, football, basketball are bad because it's possible to cheat.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

people here will tell you why the rule is good, but IMO it's the same as banning slam dunks in basketball or base stealing in baseball.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Better metaphor would be if football didn't have a line of scrimmage and let you park a WR at the goal line very play

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Not understanding why offside is necessary is not the brightest thing either. Would you prefer strikers just hanging out with the opponent team's goalie for the whole match? Maybe having tea? And defenders having to physically remove them from the penalty box?

by Anonymous 1 year ago