FIFA’s head of global football development has proposed fundamental changes to offside laws, which could help the game avoid the kind of chaos that occurred in Newcastle.
Arsene Wenger has proposed fundamental changes to offside laws (Image: Michael Regan – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
In Rome 1999, by the time Antoine Semenho’s second goal was canceled out at St James’s Park on Tuesday night, Moroccan middle-distance runner Hisham El Guerrouj had run a mile, taken a shower and started his media duties. Well, not completely, but you get the gist.
El Guerrouj’s world mile record was 3:43.13, and it took officials 5:30.00 to eclipse Semenyo’s record. It doesn’t take long for the winning horse to complete the three miles and two and a half furlongs of the Cheltenham Gold Cup course. And you have to jump over 22 fences in that distance.
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Even by VAR standards, it was the height of farce. VAR abolitionists (of which there were already many) had a successful night of recruitment.
It was hard not to join them. However, in reality, VAR will not be abolished. FIFA plans to use VAR at the World Cup to check the legitimacy of corner kick decisions and second yellow cards.
But that’s not going to stop any sensible Brit from deciding that the game would be better without VAR, right? Didn’t you all realize how much fun the FA Cup without VAR was last weekend?
This shot by Antoine Semenyo against Newcastle United was disallowed due to VAR intervention (Image: )
Eh, no. When Wolves put forward a proposal to abolish VAR in June 2024, they were voted 19-1 at the Premier League meeting, with Wolves in first place. It goes without saying that VAR is here to stay, so its application will need to fundamentally change.
Time limits will start. Forget anything longer than 90 seconds. 60, even. And change the “clear and obvious” threshold to the “visibly obvious” threshold. It could be the threshold of “I have to look you in the face.”
However, the most important change would be to implement VAR mid-way in the most contentious and often time-consuming areas within its jurisdiction. Offside.
Antoine Semenyo scored two goals in two games for Manchester City, but his third goal was controversial (Image: (Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images))
It has been reported that the home associations will object to FIFA’s intention to give a new test to manager Arsene Wenger’s proposals for drastic changes to the offside rule. That’s unfortunate.
For those who don’t know, Wenger is proposing fundamental changes to football law. This means there must be clear weather between the defender and attacker for an offside to be awarded. This is one of his most notable contributions as FIFA’s head of global football development.
And this torso, arms, legs, nothing. If there is no clear light between any part of the attacker and defender’s bodies, the attacker is not onside. Basically, in the absence of VAR, offside is determined almost literally.
Manager Josep Guardiola will almost certainly welcome Arsene Wenger’s change to the offside rule (Image: )
And it’s becoming pretty clear that the semi-automated systems that are out there don’t work properly. So a line had to be drawn as part of the deplorable delay at St James’s Park.
Opponents of Wenger’s proposal say it is too drastic and would change the offside rule too much in favor of attackers. The obvious counterargument to that is…and what is your point?
That would be the same for both teams, and perhaps even more welcome would be the timescale for VAR offside decisions to be significantly shortened. Unfortunately for many, VAR will never be abolished. But it will need all the help it can get, and Wenger’s Law could be the start.
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