The introduction of VAR has changed the offside rule. Now, instead of a lineseman
and a flag, decisions are often made by software technicians and crosshairs,
with their dot and line measurements being beamed across the world.
It’s not really football and, in response, Arsene Wenger and FIFA
are proposing the biggest reform of the offside law in nearly a century.
So, what is it - and how would it change the game?
The offside law has been largely consistent since 1925. In the years prior, an attacker had had to
have three opposition players between him and the goal to be onside. When that was reduced to two,
or one defender and a goalkeeper, it was a change promoting attacking football.
It stayed that way until 1990, when being level with that last defender allowed a forward to
be considered onside. A further evolution arrived in 2005, when new guidelines around
active players were introduced, again with the aim of liberating the attacking players.
Nevertheless, it has been nearly 100 years of tweaks rather than substantial change.
And that’s largely because in the eras before VAR, a major rethink was never
necessary. Now, though, with officials able to measure offside decisions in millimetres
and fans souring on that pedantry, there’s an appetite for revolution.
Step forward Arsene Wenger, the legendary former Arsenal manager,
who – since 2018 – has been FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development.
Wenger has been an opponent of the current offside law for some time.
In 2020, at the Laureus Sports Awards in Berlin, he spoke publicly about the need for change,
proposing that – to replace the current system – an attacking player should be onside if
any part of the body, other than the hands or arms, is in line with the final defender.
It could be a stud, the back of a player’s head, or even a shoulder. If any part of the
body with which a goal can be scored is level, the flag would stay down.
The benefits, Wenger believes, would be manifold. First and foremost, it would reduce the need for
the time-consuming VAR stoppages which have been a feature of the VAR era.
It would also change the way in which offside decisions were examined,
lessening the need for the geometric crosshairs which, so far, have proven to be antagonistic.
“It is the time to do this quickly” Wenger said in 2020.
Few would argue. Whether this would solve the problem or just create a
different sort of delay is unclear, but Wenger’s theory has momentum and support.
At the beginning of March, Wenger formally presented his initiative at an IFAB AGM
and the reaction was reportedly positive. Afterwards, FIFA President Gianni Infantino
spoke of IFAB’s need to “always to see if we can make football more attractive”, while also
conceding that “maybe we can think about a new law which allows a bit more attack in football.”
But how would that extra attacking play be encouraged?
Most obviously, by a higher defensive line.
If any part of a defender could play a forward onside, the onus is then on that player to push
higher up the pitch. As a result, the area between the last defender and goalkeeper would increase.
While giving forwards a larger area to run into,
it would also make the playing of passes through and over the defensive line easier,
demanding less accuracy from playmakers who – previously – were targeting a smaller area.
Conversely, if the concept of ‘pushing up to play offside’ is adjudged too risky
in light of the law change, some head-coaches may respond by instructing their defences to
sit deeper and narrower. That could perpetuate the attack vs defence dynamic now common across
the major European Leagues, but with the benefit of opening up more of the pitch.
So, either a high line squeezes the space available or a low block increases it.
In either scenario, it’s not difficult to see where the attacking advantage would lie – and
that’s without considering the new opportunities it might create at attacking set-pieces.
But is it necessary and wise to be increasing these opportunities?
After all, nearly every adjustment to the offside law in football’s history
has privileged the team with the ball. The 1990 change, for instance,
which reclassified in-line players as onside, was a direct response to the
dour World Cup in Italy and the negative football with which it became associated.
And it had an effect. In the English First Division, the average goals per
game rose from 2.59 during the 1989-90 season to 2.76 per game a year later.
After 275 games of the 2020-21 season, that goals per game average is back down to a stingy 2.60.
And yet, as recently as 2018-19, the Premier League was, at 2.82, enjoying the highest
number goals per game on average in its history (1992). Even in the covid-affected 2019-20 season,
that average was 2.72, with only 34 goals actually overturned by VAR for being offside.
So, statistically there is no obvious problem. Nor, of course, is it clear
whether football should now be changing its laws to accommodate the use of VAR.
Not that a law change is imminent. To be adopted, Wenger’s plan would need IFAB approval,
and any motion carried by the organisation requires a 75%
majority. All of which is subject to a successful trial which, according to
reports in the British media, will take place in the lower Chinese divisions later in 2021.
‘Such a change (has) to be tested,’ Infantino told reporters after the IFAB AGM.
‘If positive we might go ahead, but if negative we might step back.