All football fans want to see more goals - and lots of them. The aim should be for at least 6 in every match. Here's how!
More and more people are watching football on television. Television viewers are much more likely to be neutral than those going to a live match. For neutral spectators football is becoming increasingly boring. We do not want to see goalless draws or teams hanging on to a 1-0 lead by packing their defence. What we want to see is goals: I suggest that the aim should be for there to be at least six of them in every match. The following proposals would:
Make it easier to score goals
Give teams an incentive to score more goals
Reduce the number of goals disallowed for offside.
Making it easier to score goals
The goals should be made bigger. I suggest 30cm all round (i.e. 60 cm wider and 30cm higher), or at least by the diameter of a football. This would mean that most shots which now hit the woodwork would go into the goal. A strong argument in favour of this change is that most top goalkeepers are taller now than they were when the measurements were standardised well over a hundred years ago.
Giving teams an incentive to score more goals
The points system for league games should be revised. I suggest the following cumulative system:
No goals = no points Score draw = 1 point Any win = 2points A win by a margin of 2 goals or more = 1 additional point Scoring 3 goals = 1 additional point Scoring 5 goals = 1 additional point.
Under this system, a team could obtain a maximum of five points in any one game, while the losing team could get up to two points.
Examples
0-0 draw – no points awarded 1-1 draw –both teams get 1 point
5-5 draw – both teams get 3 points
1-0 win – winners get 2 points
2-0 win – winners get 3 points
3-2 win – winners get 3 points
4-2 win – winners get 4 points
5-0 win – winners get 5 points
5-3 win – winners get 5 points, losers get 1 point
I believe that such a system would encourage teams to press for more goals, rather than defending a 1-0 lead or sitting back on a 2-0 lead. It is noteworthy that the number of tries scored in international Rugby Union matches has increased since the bonus point system has been introduced.
Reducing the number of goals disallowed for offside
I think I am in a majority in thinking that “something needs to be done about the offside rule”. Too many well-crafted “goals” are ruled out because of technical infringements of the off-side rule. As far as I can see, the main original purpose of the offside law was to stop what we as children used to call “goal hanging”. I can see that argument, but a player who has just stepped over the half-way line, can hardly be accused of goal-hanging. I believe that the aim should be to make off-sides as rare as indirect free kicks in the attacking penalty area. I offer the following suggestions for consideration:
No player can be offside if he is more than 18 yards (16.5metres) from the goal line.
Other than in 3 below, no player can be offside if there are two or more defenders anywhere in the penalty area.
A player can, however, be given offside, if he is in an offside position (as currently defined) inside the goal area (5.5 metre/6 yard area) and there is no defender, other than the goalkeeper, in that area.