IFAB set to scrap Arsene Wenger's 'daylight' offside rule in favour of one that favours defenders
We were getting quite excited by the idea of Arsene Wenger bringing back the 'daylight' rule for offsides.
During Newcastle United's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City last week, VAR spent nearly six minutes looking at Antoine Semenyo's second goal of the game before ruling it offside by the narrowest of margins.
It was an absolute farce, and after a couple of minutes, even Newcastle fans were screaming to just give the goal and move on.
After watching instances like that so many times since VAR came into effect, we were excited to hear that Arsene Wenger was pushing to reintroduce the 'daylight' rule to determine whether a player is offside. Under Wenger's Law, there needs to be a complete gap between the attacker and the second-to-last opposition player - effectively the last defender - given the goalkeeper's usual positioning.
Arsene Wenger's 'daylight' offside law is set to be shelved
The BBC have today reported that IFAB (International Football Association Board), football's rule makers, are meeting this week with several potential changes on the agenda, but it's thought that Wenger's Law is going to be batted to the side.
Their feeling is that the 'daylight' rule favours the attackers too much and they are instead looking at a 'torso' decider. Rather than using the head and feet to determine offside, it would take the upper body.
So that means another arbitrary line is going to be drawn on still frames while people argue about what part of the torso counts when a player is in a certain position.
Why don't IFAB want to make the game more entertaining?
We don't understand what's wrong with the attacker having the advantage. It's goals that make games exciting, so surely, more relaxed offside rules means more goals, more entertainment, more eyes on the sport.
I've always been an advocate for scrapping offside altogether. If your defence is stupid enough to ignore an attacker behind them, then they deserve to be punished for it.
What are your thoughts on this one? Do you think the 'daylight' rule makes sense, or do you like the 'torso' idea? Or should they just leave it alone? Sound off in the comments below.
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