The Van Basten Proposals

Richard Hillman

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/marco-van-basten-fifa-plans-change-football-a7534186.html


Marco Van Basten has been travelling the world as part of a FIFA technical group looking for ways to improve the game. His proposals are as follows:

Remove the offside rule
Replace extra time and penalties with the former MLS method of running from 25/35 yards
Orange cards for Sin Bins
Introduce a ban on a player playing more than 60 games a year
Split the games into 4 quarters



Firstly I support getting rid of the offside rule. I think people complaining about strikers lodging beside a keeper for the game lack imagination. The game would be too open to sacrifice a guy just to hoof balls up to. Field Hockey, which is probably the closest sport to football does not have an offside rule and it applicated well. However, I do think there needs to be some rule to stop crowding and blocking the keeper.

I support getting rid of Extra Time. It is a pointless drawn out exercise but would rather just keep the penalties.

Sin Bins/Orange Cards are badly needed for Cynical Fouls. There should never be a case of where a team is better off after committing an infringement.

RE Reduction in games. I think it is ridiculous that some players can start their Pre-Season at the end of June or start of July and then play all the way through the next June/July with intentionals or tournament.

Not a fan of the 4 quarter. I think it would encourage teams to waste time or kill the game to get to next quarter without conceding. It breaks up the momentum.

POKERKING

They sound like April fools jokes.

SickBoy

I'm surprised they're keeping the ball round at this stage.

Collie D

Richard Hillman wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/marco-van-basten-fifa-plans-change-football-a7534186.html


Marco Van Basten has been travelling the world as part of a FIFA technical group looking for ways to improve the game. His proposals are as follows:

Remove the offside rule
Replace extra time and penalties with the former MLS method of running from 25/35 yards
Orange cards for Sin Bins
Introduce a ban on a player playing more than 60 games a year
Split the games into 4 quarters



Firstly I support getting rid of the offside rule. I think people complaining about strikers lodging beside a keeper for the game lack imagination. The game would be too open to sacrifice a guy just to hoof balls up to. Field Hockey, which is probably the closest sport to football does not have an offside rule and it applicated well. However, I do think there needs to be some rule to stop crowding and blocking the keeper.

I support getting rid of Extra Time. It is a pointless drawn out exercise but would rather just keep the penalties.

Sin Bins/Orange Cards are badly needed for Cynical Fouls. There should never be a case of where a team is better off after committing an infringement.

RE Reduction in games. I think it is ridiculous that some players can start their Pre-Season at the end of June or start of July and then play all the way through the next June/July with intentionals or tournament.

Not a fan of the 4 quarter. I think it would encourage teams to waste time or kill the game to get to next quarter without conceding. It breaks up the momentum.

Is that what it sounds like?

Kimbot

Is there any player that has played more than 60 games in a year?????

stesaurus

No thanks to most of his proposals, very Americanized. 4 quarters would be a pain in the ass. Way more advertising possibilities though so I could see this being something that interests Fifa. It would ruin the game though.
Change the game to 2 halves of 30 minutes of in play action. Stop the clock when ball goes out of play. Removes time wasting rubbish and questions marks about adding on time.

Arghus

Some of these proposals are daft.

Richard Hillman

jonnycivic wrote: »

Is there any player that has played more than 60 games in a year?????

I reckon Ronaldo and Griezmann would have gotten close last year.

Pre season, 38 league games, 13 CL, Copa Del Rey, international Qualifiers/Friendlies and 7 at the European Champs. Obviously they would have missed some games with injuries/suspension/rested etc but close enough.

TheCitizen

Sin bin is the only thing of those I'd consider. An unfortunate or harsh red card can ruin a game.

simonw

Collie D wrote: »

Is that what it sounds like?

Yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRITqS6WEn0

J. Marston

Collie D wrote: »

Is that what it sounds like?

I like it.

Edit: Posted above

simonw

J. Marston wrote: »

I like it.

haha snap

SEANoftheDEAD

I'm convinced at this stage anyone working for FIFA is flat out on the hallucinogenics and are all in a competitive with each other to come up with the craziest suggestions and rule changes.

If I was the head of FIFA and Marco was sent around the world to looking for way to improve the game and back to me with that list; I'd sack him on the spot.

TheCitizen

simonw wrote: »

Yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRITqS6WEn0

Looks like designed torture for goalies

Masala

FFS..... is that the BEST he could come up with based on his travels and experience in the game??

I would like to see something done with 'headers'....its currently dangerous on both the Head itself and the flaying of elbows when in mid air. Always dreaded (when I was playing) the possibility of a full -assault from behind all on basis of 'I was going for the header ref'

Skylinehead

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Firstly I support getting rid of the offside rule. I think people complaining about strikers lodging beside a keeper for the game lack imagination. The game would be too open to sacrifice a guy just to hoof balls up to. Field Hockey, which is probably the closest sport to football does not have an offside rule and it applicated well. However, I do think there needs to be some rule to stop crowding and blocking the keeper.

What's wrong with offside that it needs scrapping? The entire game defensively is built around the rule.

NIMAN

But why should it be?

I agree with scrapping it. Too hard to make accurate calls for linesmen.

The rule has been taken on board and abused to make the game more defensive. That was not its purpose. I think football would be no different with no offside.

Not mad on his other suggestions.

What is it with ex-players coming up with stupid ideas? Didn't Platini suggest banning tackling at one stage?

Skylinehead

NIMAN wrote: »

But why should it be?

I agree with scrapping it. Too hard to make accurate calls for linesmen.

The rule has been taken on board and abused to make the game more defensive. That was not its purpose. I think football would be no different with no offside.

Not mad on his other suggestions.

What is it with ex-players coming up with stupid ideas? Didn't Platini suggest banning tackling at one stage?

A well designed video reffing system, as has been suggested, could take care of the linesman problem, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with your third line. You start it off by saying football is too defensive with offsides, and end it by saying that football won't be any different without offside. It can't be both.

NIMAN

The offside rule has been abused to kill attacking football.
Remove it and we should (hopefully) have an increase in entertainment.

By saying it won't be different, I mean teams will still set up the same, there won't be people 'mooching' up front like school boys....the structure of the game won't change.

Overall I'm in favour of getting rid of getting rid of offside. However I think the time to do it will be after a poor world cup or something when there's more appetite for it.

NIMAN

NIMAN wrote: »

The offside rule has been abused to kill attacking football.
Remove it and we should (hopefully) have an increase in entertainment.

By saying it won't be different, I mean teams will still set up the same, there won't be people 'mooching' up front like school boys....the structure of the game won't change.

I think it would change long-term but it would be a lot more gradual than people would expect. Teams now seem to set up like U-12 teams when attacking, just hanging around the halfway line.

Skylinehead

NIMAN wrote: »

The offside rule has been abused to kill attacking football.
Remove it and we should (hopefully) have an increase in entertainment.

By saying it won't be different, I mean teams will still set up the same, there won't be people 'mooching' up front like school boys....the structure of the game won't change.

I don't share your optimism on that front.

Is there a perception that attacking football has been killed? I'm not seeing the same thing, sure there were brilliant defensive teams that made full use of offside like Sacchi's Milan or 90s Arsenal, but they're an exception. Teams like Barcelona under Guardiola are a counter to that argument. And I'm looking at players like Messi and Ronaldo, possibly the two greatest attackers ever to play, and I just can't take the "attacking football is dead" argument seriously.

GavRedKing

All those potential rules changes are daft, none more so than getting rid of offside.

You'd have an NBA style game of end to end.

It would take out pretty much all of the tactics if when you get into the opposition half you could position a player or two in the 6 yard box, forcing the otehr team to throw two or three men in there also before eventually you push closer to the box and everybody ends up piling into the 6 yard box.

If you didnt score, you'd end up defending to a very similar tactic and would get rid of positions per se, you'd probably need 8 defenders and 2 players for outballs and then theyed have to counter straight away then.

It would be mayhem.

One thing I'm surprised hasnt happened is rolling, infinite subs, like NFL or NBA.

Jayop

I don't know why but I had always assumed that the ofiside rule was something that had been introduced in the middle of the last century like the way that the back pass was later in the century.

I found this really interesting from the wiki page on off-side...

The rule changed to "two opponents" in 1925 and led to an immediate increase in goal-scoring. 4,700 goals were scored in 1,848 Football League games in 1924–25. This number rose to 6,373 goals (from the same number of games) in 1925–26.

garra

s.welstead wrote: »

No thanks to most of his proposals, very Americanized. 4 quarters would be a pain in the ass. Way more advertising possibilities though so I could see this being something that interests Fifa. It would ruin the game though.
Change the game to 2 halves of 30 minutes of in play action. Stop the clock when ball goes out of play. Removes time wasting rubbish and questions marks about adding on time.

Fifa have always said that they don't want technology as it would interrupt the flow of game too much while waiting on reviews of action by TV officials. Of course if there's a few quid in it, they would have to reconsider...

Jayop

If football was split into quarters or if there was any other interruptions during the 45 minutes of each half in which a TV company could display ads then I do honestly think that my days of watching pro football would be behind me.

Korat

I'm surprised he didn't suggest a rule similar to icing in Ice Hockey to discourage hoofball. It would tie in with getting rid of the offside rule.

garra

Masala wrote: »

FFS..... is that the BEST he could come up with based on his travels and experience in the game??

I would like to see something done with 'headers'....its currently dangerous on both the Head itself and the flaying of elbows when in mid air. Always dreaded (when I was playing) the possibility of a full -assault from behind all on basis of 'I was going for the header ref'

What do you mean "Something done with", what are you actually suggesting?

Masala

garra wrote: »

What do you mean "Something done with", what are you actually suggesting?

...I like to see it REMOVED from the game myself.

stesaurus

Masala wrote: »

...I like to see it REMOVED from the game myself.

But it's fundamental to the sport. Football without headers or crossing is not football.

Kimbot

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I reckon Ronaldo and Griezmann would have gotten close last year.

Pre season, 38 league games, 13 CL, Copa Del Rey, international Qualifiers/Friendlies and 7 at the European Champs. Obviously they would have missed some games with injuries/suspension/rested etc but close enough.

Ronaldo played a total of 48 games, Griezmann played 54 in all (Excluding internationals cos wiki has them by year i.e. 2015 or 2016 but not 2015-2016 season)

But to change a rule that would only benefit what I can see as an extreme minority is pointless. Like plenty of the other rule changes he proposes.

Jayop

jonnycivic wrote: »

Ronaldo played a total of 48 games, Griezmann played 54 in all (Excluding internationals cos wiki has them by year i.e. 2015 or 2016 but not 2015-2016 season)

But to change a rule that would only benefit what I can see as an extreme minority is pointless. Like plenty of the other rule changes he proposes.

Extreme minorities maybe deserve to be protected though. According to Transfermarkt Griezmann played 16 games including ET in the final from Aug 15 to Aug 16.

That's 70 games in one season.

Also, did you include club friendlies in preseason? If not then that's another 3/4 games. That's madness.

Kimbot

Jayop wrote: »

Extreme minorities maybe deserve to be protected though. According to Transfermarkt Griezmann played 16 games including ET in the final from Aug 15 to Aug 16.

That's 70 games in one season.

Also, did you include club friendlies in preseason? If not then that's another 3/4 games. That's madness.

TBH I dont think friendlies are included in that. Yes minorities need protecting but these guys are top level athletes that should be able for the equivalent 1.5 games per week. Like thats approx 135mins of intense football a week in fairness.

garra

Masala wrote: »

...I like to see it REMOVED from the game myself.

I don't reckon it's dangerous to head a football. Try heading a heavy water-soaked O'Neills GAA football and will know about "dangerous".

Regarding elbows into the head, yes it can be dangerous but how many deaths a year does it cause? I'm glad that someone who used to worry about being fouled is not helping to change the rules of football, as you'd make a balls of it tbh.

Masala

garra wrote: »

I don't reckon it's dangerous to head a football. Try heading a heavy water-soaked O'Neills GAA football and will know about "dangerous".

Regarding elbows into the head, yes it can be dangerous but how many deaths a year does it cause? I'm glad that someone who used to worry about being fouled is not helping to change the rules of football, as you'd make a balls of it tbh.

Its not today or tomorrow we have to worry about....its the effect on long term health. Peter Cech seems concerned about it and took his own corrective action.

I'm just giving my comments ..... I am sure that Van Basten doesn't give 2 ****s what I have to say but worrying about burnout on a guy on €200k is not a priority to get sorted.

Kimbot

Masala wrote: »

Its not today or tomorrow we have to worry about....its the effect on long term health. Peter Cech seems concerned about it and took his own corrective action.

I'm just giving my comments ..... I am sure that Van Basten doesn't give 2 ****s what I have to say but worrying about burnout on a guy on €200k is not a priority to get sorted.

Cech nearly had his head taken off in a 50/50 didn't he? Not from heading no ball.

citytillidie

Being an Umpire for field hockey. There is no offside in field hockey yes, but you can only score inside the circle in front of the net.

I see games where you will have an attacker stand about in that circle and the rest of the team just try to hit long balls up to them, it is often the teams who do not skillful players.

Then there is rules about high and dangerous balls so they just can't hit high balls in so most ground passes are cut out, the odd one will get through.

If anything i think the offside rule should just go back to what it was, if there is not 2 players between attacker and the goal line it is offside, none of this interfering with play crap it just makes it over complicated

lawred2

J. Marston wrote: »

I like it.

Edit: Posted above

god I hate it


but maybe it was the hairstyles

citytillidie

Korat wrote: »

I'm surprised he didn't suggest a rule similar to icing in Ice Hockey to discourage hoofball. It would tie in with getting rid of the offside rule.

Or use the 23 meter line and no attacking player can be past that line until the ball is like the blue offside line in ice hockey. If the defending team clears the ball outside the 23 meter line then all attacking players have to come out before it can be played back in again.

Laois_Man

Throw ins replaced by kick ins - Defenders won't be so keen to whack it into Row Z then. They'll have to play football a lot more

Penalty goals as opposed to penalty kicks to be used in the rare occurrences such as the Suarez incident at the 2010 World Cup against Ghana

Should be allowed move a free kick Further Away from goal if you want to. A team getting a 30 yard free kick has a better chance of scoring than when they win a 20 yard free kick which is ridiculous!!

Retrospective zero tolerance on diving

A transfer spend limit

Unlimited rolling substitutions across an entire 22 man matchday squad. Keeps the pace fast and energy levels high. Not sure about this one. It has plenty of downsides. Just throwing it out there.

Abandoning the offside rule would be awful. Tweaking it would be OK. (interfering with play nonsense)

At least 2 players must be on their attacking side of the ball at all times times. No more 10 men behind the ball ****e

Allow a 4th substitution if its a keeper coming on due to injury or a sending off.

There are all better ideas and I traveled nowhere for them

Skylinehead

Masala wrote: »

Its not today or tomorrow we have to worry about....its the effect on long term health. Peter Cech seems concerned about it and took his own corrective action.

I'm just giving my comments ..... I am sure that Van Basten doesn't give 2 ****s what I have to say but worrying about burnout on a guy on €200k is not a priority to get sorted.

As jonny said, Cech wears a skullcap because he fractured his skull in a collision with Stephen Hunt about 10 years back. Not as if a goalkeeper has to head the ball much anyway.

I do think there's legitimate concerns about youth players heading the ball and FIFA have something coming up about that, but I wouldn't ban heading entirely.

citytillidie

Skylinehead wrote: »

As jonny said, Cech wears a skullcap because he fractured his skull in a collision with Stephen Hunt about 10 years back. Not as if a goalkeeper has to head the ball much anyway.

I do think there's legitimate concerns about youth players heading the ball and FIFA have something coming up about that, but I wouldn't ban heading entirely.

US Soccer have banned heading the ball for U10's and those aged 11 to 13 can only do it in training and not in games

http://www.today.com/parents/no-more-heading-us-soccer-out-new-guidelines-youth-soccer-t54971

Jayop

Laois_Man wrote: »

Throw ins replaced by kick ins - Defenders won't be so keen to whack it into Row Z then. They'll have to play football a lot more

Penalty goals as opposed to penalty kicks to be used in the rare occurrences such as the Suarez incident at the 2010 World Cup against Ghana

Should be allowed move a free kick Further Away from goal if you want to. A team getting a 30 yard free kick has a better chance of scoring than when they win a 20 yard free kick which is ridiculous!!

Retrospective zero tolerance on diving

A transfer spend limit

Unlimited rolling substitutions across an entire 22 man matchday squad. Keeps the pace fast and energy levels high. Not sure about this one. It has plenty of downsides. Just throwing it out there.

Abandoning the offside rule would be awful. Tweaking it would be OK. (interfering with play nonsense)

At least 2 players must be on their attacking side of the ball at all times times. No more 10 men behind the ball ****e

Allow a 4th substitution if its a keeper coming on due to injury or a sending off.

There are all better ideas and I traveled nowhere for them

Things I agree with you on.
Throw in's being replaced to kick in's.
Moving free kicks back
Zero tolerance on diving. Bans getting bigger for each offense culminating on a points deduction.
Don't abandon the offside rule

Things I disagree with you about.
Transfer spend limit
Rolling subs
2 players infront of play

Things that could work.
Penalty goals could only be awarded with the use of TV replays imo
4th sub, but only if a team has used one in the first half

inforfun

Van Basten has lost the plot for a while already but it is now coming to a point i am even start to feel embarrassed sharing the same nationality with him.

If all these proposal happen, i have 1 more proposal, give the game a new name as well because it isnt football/soccer anymore then.

price690

The 8 second penalty from the half way line or edge of the box has definite merit. There's an element of skill to it rather than penalties.

Don't see any problem with an orange card either to sin bin players for cynical fouls.

Video technology is a must as is retrospective bans for diving. And non of this nonsense pundits indulge "entitled to go down", "anticipated contact". If it's shown a player could have stayed on his feet handily then no penalty. If it's a case of playing for the penalty then it's a onew game ban plus fine for the player with all fines going towards a worthy cause.

Sirsok

garra wrote: »

I don't reckon it's dangerous to head a football. Try heading a heavy water-soaked O'Neills GAA football and will know about "dangerous".

Regarding elbows into the head, yes it can be dangerous but how many deaths a year does it cause? I'm glad that someone who used to worry about being fouled is not helping to change the rules of football, as you'd make a balls of it tbh.

I cam confirm with the below picture that contesting a header can be dangerous stuff,, im on the right the guy on the left is who I clashed heads with, neither of us called for the ball, and thats the third time ive been split open and required stiches, first time on the bring of the nose and second on the side of the head challenging for headers.

Prob should.learn how to header in fairness!

wandatowell

Jesus thats nasty.


Peno's look like great fun to watch.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Remove the offside rule
Replace extra time and penalties with the former MLS method of running from 25/35 yards
Orange cards for Sin Bins
Introduce a ban on a player playing more than 60 games a year
Split the games into 4 quarters

1 - No, for the reason you mention. Teams wouldn't jsut put one player, they'd put two. But it does need adjustment though. I like the GAA rule of players must be outside the box when the ball is played in.

2 - penalties, yes, extra time no. Extra time should be played 8 on 8 though. In Ice hockey (which is normally 5 on 5 outfield) used to go 4 on 4 and just recently started 3 on 3. It works - far fewer games end level after the extra period.

3 - Orange cards - I agree completely.

4 - Not sure how this would work: are you including international games? It would also encourage fielding weakened sides in certain situations.

5 - Four quarters - of dear Lord, no. Please!

enzo roco

Laois_Man wrote: »

At least 2 players must be on their attacking side of the ball at all times times. No more 10 men behind the ball ****e

Madness. How do you police that???

irelandrover

enzo roco wrote: »

Madness. How do you police that???

Also, a defender is in trouble so he just runs back towards his own dead ball line until there aren't two attackers ahead of the ball. Free out given.

Ferris_Bueller

Remove the offside rule - Hard to know how this would pan out, it might mean more goals but the art of defending would be seriously in jeopardy. Overall I would think this is a bad idea but maybe it would be interesting to see it trialed in an underage tournament or something.

Replace extra time and penalties - Penalties can be enjoyable for neutrals but cruel for supporters and for players, I think we can all remember a few famous penalty shoot outs so in a way it would be a shame to scrap them but it's not exactly the fairest way to settle a match. I have no problem with extra time either but then again I'm not the one running around for 120 minutes.

Orange cards for Sin Bins - A good idea I think, there needs to be something between a yellow and a red. Plenty of games have been ruined by a player getting sent off and the opposition team scoring the resulting penalty. Could maybe use this to punish players mouthing at the referees also.

Introduce a ban on a player playing more than 60 games a year - can't imagine this effects too many players and seems a bit unnecessary. Could be difficult for some teams, when it comes to crunch time of the season could it mean some players would miss out on domestic and european finals, and also the last few games of the league season?

Split the games into 4 quarters - Terrible idea and literally the only reason it is suggested so that organisations can get more money from advertising.


If I was in charge and was going to make a few changes I would consider the following:

No replays - Settle all cup ties on the night by going to extra time or penos. I don't think replays are of much benefit to anyone, fans have to fork out more money for tickets, players have more games in an already busy schedule. The only time it benefits is if a club like Plymouth get an away draw at Anfield and then get the bonus of Liverpool coming to town for a big crowd. Even in these situations how often do the smaller club pull off an upset the second time? I would think they have a better chance on penalties.

Retrospective bans for diving - Simple one, nobody likes diving and it's bad for the game. Difficult for the refs to call on the spot so retrospective banning seems like the fairest way.

Orange card temporarily - Van Bastens idea for an orange card isn't a bad one and I think something needs to be brought in between yellow and red cards. I mentioned above games have been ruined by a team being punished twice by a foul (goal and sending off), so perhaps in this situation an orange card could be given - if the opposition score the penalty the player receives a yellow card, if the opposition miss then the player is sent off.