Hi, Jumped Up Chimpanzee.
JUC writes:
The problem with that is it complicates the rules. As it stands, offside is dictated by where the players are when the ball is kicked forward.
If you have another rule that in certain circumstances it depends on where the ball is, rather than where the players are, you then have 2 different types of offside, and more complicated rules.
This isn't really what I meant.
While playing the ball
into the penalty area, the usual offside rule would apply. But, once the ball is inside the penalty area, offsides will not be called on additional passes or deflections.
It seems that the line judges make a lot of mistakes calling offsides when everyone's congested inside the penalty area. It also seems that this would make it easier to turn a trip into the penalty area into a goal, which would increase the scoring as per Americans' wishes.
And, yeah, it makes the rules a little more complicated, but we
are talking about Americanizing the sport, and this doesn't even approach the complexity of most American sports' rulebooks.
-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
Darwin loves you.