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The Footie Thread

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Today marks the 100th anniversary of the changing of the offside rule, where the number of defenders needed between an attacking player and the goal was reduced, from 3 to 2.

For those who subscribe, there is an excellent article in the Athletic about the change and the man who caused it to happen...Bill McCracken of Newcastle United.


Back in the 80s, I tried to arrange a pre-season game for the non-league team I was involved in where there would be no offsides - more of a PR stunt but we had both teams up for it, officials arranged, the lot. Then the Surrey FA stepped in and said if the game went ahead, both teams would face disciplinary action. To see what would have happened tactically would have been interesting, stretching the field, more room for players to move around. Ah what might have been. We were expecting every major newspaper down and a massive crowd for what was then Isthmian League Division Two.
 
There was a bit of a discussion yesterday on amusing stories from the olden days. This one has just popped up on my Twitter feed.

Imagine that happening today?! The GK would be out for the rest of the season, the fan in question would be hung, drawn and quartered and Brian Clough, his kids and grandkids would be banned from all forms of football for the rest of their lives!

 
Back in the 80s, I tried to arrange a pre-season game for the non-league team I was involved in where there would be no offsides - more of a PR stunt but we had both teams up for it, officials arranged, the lot. Then the Surrey FA stepped in and said if the game went ahead, both teams would face disciplinary action. To see what would have happened tactically would have been interesting, stretching the field, more room for players to move around. Ah what might have been. We were expecting every major newspaper down and a massive crowd for what was then Isthmian League Division Two.
I used to play in an annual game between my team and our local league rivals known as the “fool’s folly”. Basically only one rule, no leg breakers. But other than that, carte blanche. 30 min halves due to the absolute chaos that followed.

Great fun, wouldn’t answer your tactics question, but never once did the SFA step in as they knew nothing about it.

Linesmen running the lines drinking cans of Tennants.
 
I used to play in an annual game between my team and our local league rivals known as the “fool’s folly”. Basically only one rule, no leg breakers. But other than that, carte blanche. 30 min halves due to the absolute chaos that followed.

Great fun, wouldn’t answer your tactics question, but never once did the SFA step in as they knew nothing about it.

Linesmen running the lines drinking cans of Tennants.
I hope it was Tennants Super!
 
There was a bit of a discussion yesterday on amusing stories from the olden days. This one has just popped up on my Twitter feed.

Imagine that happening today?! The GK would be out for the rest of the season, the fan in question would be hung, drawn and quartered and Brian Clough, his kids and grandkids would be banned from all forms of football for the rest of their lives!


If you’ve nit seen it have a look for The Overlap’s video with Mark Crossley on YouTube. It’s about his time at Forest under Clough and it’s very funny. No manager would get away with any of the stuff that Crossley talks about in the video.
 
Back in the 80s, I tried to arrange a pre-season game for the non-league team I was involved in where there would be no offsides - more of a PR stunt but we had both teams up for it, officials arranged, the lot. Then the Surrey FA stepped in and said if the game went ahead, both teams would face disciplinary action. To see what would have happened tactically would have been interesting, stretching the field, more room for players to move around. Ah what might have been. We were expecting every major newspaper down and a massive crowd for what was then Isthmian League Division Two.
Hockey got rid of the offside rule 25-30 years ago. It was very liberating. For the first few games teams tried to go long, leave a player very high but they soon realised how easy that was to defend against. It settled down to normal play but without bad offside decisions or attackers holding back runs. More goals were scored but in a positive way, not a Wimbledon style. It's a shame you weren't allowed to run that game, pretty pathetic from the local FA.
 
And some complete sod of a local journalist at the time got his own back by naming the Surrey FA officials who had put a stop to the idea. That went down even better :rolleyes: :ROFLMAO:
 
Hockey got rid of the offside rule 25-30 years ago. It was very liberating. For the first few games teams tried to go long, leave a player very high but they soon realised how easy that was to defend against. It settled down to normal play but without bad offside decisions or attackers holding back runs. More goals were scored but in a positive way, not a Wimbledon style. It's a shame you weren't allowed to run that game, pretty pathetic from the local FA.
We used to train where there was no offside until the 18 yrd line.
It was great as it created so much room for the midfield players to shine.

That was in the days you could be offside anywhere even if it wasn’t played to you!
No such thing as not interfering 😳
 
England U-19 v Norway U-19 on the BBC website

Very impressive movement, pace and desire to get the ball forward...none of this pass the ball across the back four from side to side constantly....lots of direct balls "breaking the Norwegian defensive lines".

...and Norway have just equalised with a lovely solo effort where the eventual scorer could easily have gone down under a challenge in the box but stayed on his feet to create his opportunity.

Good game so far with a lot of skill on show and more entertainment in 20 minutes than the 180+ minutes of the last two senior matches.

H-T: ENG 1-2 NOR

Norway very effective on the counter attack and have created some great opportunities despite having 30% possession. 7 shots with 3 on target for both teams. England have hit the woodwork twice, Norway once. Norway's chances have been better and it could easily be 2-3 or 2-4. Pivotal was England hitting the post with a thumping header which would have made it 2-0 and pretty much immediately afterwards Norway broke up field to equalize. Since then England have struggled to find holes in a well organized Norway defense and have only had long range efforts to show for their dominance.

Mikey Moore head and shoulders above most of the rest of the players on the park.

Full Time: ENG 2-2 NOR

Similar to the 1st half, England dominated possession and territory without ever really looking likely to break Norway down. Equalizer came from a penalty 10 mins from time, converted by Mikey Moore, after an England forward was pushed over as he attacked a cross. England had a couple of other chances in the last ten minutes but they both fell in quick succession to one of the subs who was not up to speed with the game having come on only a minute or two previously. Norway had a couple of breakaways and nearly stole it at the death.

Worrying injury to Mikey Moore as he caught hsi foot in the turf in time added on.

Oh yeah...The England No. 6 couldn't trap a bag of cement.
 
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ITV unicef football
Channel 4 u21 England v Slovenia
Channel 5 Munich v amateur No team.

Nope there’s not enough football on telly 😖
 
Its just gossip.
Once any concrete movement is done, then say so.:)

I hope that the rumours are true and that Arsenal have decided that he’s too expensive and that Sesko is their no 1 target. Then United keep to the game plan that only players who are committed to United will be signed. Gyokeres can then spend another season at Sporting or in Saudi, whichever will take him.
 
Some of the teams are only semi pro.
Absolute waste of time.
Waiting for Real Madrid vs The Dog and Duck A.
Lads finishing their ciggies before kick off. Star midfielder spewing up after 20mins to clear last night's sambuca chaser.
And flying keepers because the regular goalie has been called out to fix a boiler so they're down to 10. He'll be back at half time though
 
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