Date Published: 03/03/10

FIFA may scrap offside rule

FOOTBALL governing body, FIFA, was considering scrapping the offside rule, The Times of London reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has discussed what would be the most radical rule change in the sport for decades. Blatter has apparently spoken to the President of the International Hockey Federation, Leandro Nagre, about how hockey abolished the rule in the 1990s.

"He asked me a lot of questions about it and how successful it was, although he never offered an opinion, so it was difficult to judge what football might do. But he did seem very interested in how we had implemented it," Negre said.

The offside rule in hockey was abolished in 1998 after a trial period two years earlier, a move that has been credited with making the game more free-flowing and exciting as a spectacle. Veteran BBC sports commentator, Barry Davies, firmly believed that it would be a great move for football.

"I would love to see it given a trial in the lower leagues," he said. "It would probably take a long time for players to adjust. It's also very demanding physically, but I was amazed at how quickly hockey adapted and there's no doubt the game is better for it."

Davies believes that the abolition of offside is not the only rule football could borrow from hockey. He suggested that the green card - which leads to a two-minute in the sin bin for players - would also work well.