The Great Debate: Which rules need to be changed in football? | OneFootball

Lewis Ambrose

The six second rule.

When a goalkeeper has the ball and is ready to release it, they have to do so within six seconds, otherwise it’s an indirect free-kick to the opposition. Apparently.

The thing is, the rule is never enforced. The only time it was enforced in recent years, it took the officials an incredible 20 seconds to actually do something about it.

Honestly? Just get rid of the rule if you aren’t going to use it.

Elliott Bretland

Goalkeepers have too much protection. We should take some of that protection away.

I’m all for looking out for them but strikers being booked for merely challenging the man between the sticks for a 50/50 ball has become farcical.

Any time there is the slightest bit of contact from an attacker, the referee blows up; even without a foul being committed.

It’s so become the norm that I think blowing the whistle and halting play at the mere sight of a stretching keeper under pressure has become a subconscious action. Why?

Please, use some common sense and let the battles in the box play out. Andy Carroll should be allowed to thrive.

Dan Burke

I’d like to see an orange card and/or sin bin system introduced.

Last week, there was a lot of debate about whether Vincent Kompany’s tackle on Mohamed Salah should have been a sending off.

Tackles like that one are dangerous enough to deserve more serious punishment than a booking but not malicious enough to warrant a game-changing red card.

That’s why a third card should be introduced. This would give referees the power to send players off but only for a short period of time to sit on the naughty step and think about what they’ve done.

Red cards ruin games and if you ask me, they should be used sparingly.

Phil Costa

The away goals rule should be scrapped from Champions League and Europa League football.

When the rule was officially enforced in 1966, Uefa had honest intentions and wanted to create more entertaining matches, as well as provide an actual winner on the day.

But should a goal really be worth double? A draw should be a draw, regardless of where the match is being played.

Due to such weight being placed on away goals, it also encourages defensive football due to fear of conceding which isn’t what you want at the highest level.

Make goals equal again.

Matt Frohlich

One rule I’d love to introduce is that the time added on at the end of each game will not count if the time wasting team are the ones who need it back.

Too many times a team has spent long periods of the game wasting time to get the result they want, only to then get it back at the end which, if circumstances have changed, could be a massive help.

For example, lets say Team A want to win but Team B are holding out for a draw. Team B spend 10 minutes of the second half wasting time when the score is 0-0, only for Team A to take the lead 1-0.

These 10 minutes that Team B have wasted, are then added back on for injury time at the end of the 90 minutes, giving them an extra 10 minutes to find an equaliser and get the result they want.

In my eyes, that’s ridiculous. If you waste the time, you don’t get it back at the end when you suddenly need it.

The solution? Count wasted time separately for each team.

Ian McCourt

There are 7.53 billion on Earth.

A very, very, very, very, very, very tiny percentage of those people are gifted enough that they can play football professionally.

An even smaller percentage of those people are gifted enough that they can score goals.

Relative to the amount of football played, a goal is a scarce commodity and so when one is scored, it should be celebrated with trumpets and feasts and flourishes.

A player getting booked for taking off their jersey while celebrating is the most puerile rule that football has ever invented.

It should be banished. At once. Please. Thanks.

Alex Mott

As Law 16.2 states on the FA’s own website: “When taking a goal kick, if the ball does not leave the penalty area or is touched by a player before it leaves the penalty area the kick is retaken.”

What exactly is that point of that? It makes absolutely no difference to the game – in fact you could say it actively hampers sides who want to play a short passing game.

Just allow goalkeepers to pass to their team mates inside the penalty area when restarting play and be done with this absurdly arcane law.