Gareth Thomas

Christian. Historian @TFHBs (@The_FCAs winner 2014, finalist 2019 & 2024), author (x2 @TFHB football history books), #Bluebirds ST holder, Dolphins fan #FinsUp.

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@mithITFC Germany game was 9.30?! Not allowed up stay up past 9 is it?!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Jesuislibis @schadjoe For sure he did, you can read about him prominently in my two books on football history, here: https://t.co/Xjq86OGcCv & https://t.co/U5fppwJiOc.

Immensely important manager in his career, but he's now coming out with widely regarding poor ideas. & he's in FIFA's inner circle.

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Geomodman @danielnetrval @flameosumeet It'd have game shattering impacts on style. If you watched South Africa v Canada just now, imagine it in place. South Africa were already so defensive and deep with the current law, if you changed the law, they wouldn't leave their half. They'd be sat on the 18 yard line!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Geomodman @danielnetrval @flameosumeet No you may think the above ^ looks reasonable. But it's the reaction of the defence that'd kill it. All those defenders would be coached to drop back further and further to defender the forward. Meaning games would become insanely defensive not to let the other team in.

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@justicecoyote @schadjoe Yeah for what it's worth that's near my take on a change to the law if it were to happen, feet, probs just 1 foot for me not both, but if either, so be it.
The bigger issue is still it's measured in militeres just the other way. Imagine this graphic, but 5mm gap, still outrage!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@McpaddenPaddy @schadjoe If we wanna go down that route fella, we can talk about re-ruling a ton of American sports if you'd like!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@ShamanicFallout @schadjoe Because of the game shattering impact it'd have on style. Watching South Africa v Canada now imagining it in place. South Africa are already so defensive and deep with the current law, if you changed the law, they wouldn't leave their half. They'd be sat on the 18 yard lane!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@schadjoe sorry Joe, appreciate you liking my posts but noticed you're automatically in all my replies by default, so you're probs sick of my tweets! Let's me know if so and I'll stop or untag you haha!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Jamesnotabot @FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe It's not about laziness, it's about the tactical impact it'd have.

Managers would set teams up to play further back, sides would be far more cautious because you couldn't risk being caught on the break. It's already a threat with quick attackers, you'd have to play so deep.

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Jamesnotabot @schadjoe Is it football/soccer? That's the madest take yet! Potentially the least comparable sport there is, that's near enough like saying "Does F1 have offsides?!"!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@derekbauman @schadjoe Yeah incredible atmosphere last night!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@derekbauman @schadjoe The key thing with that offside for Colombia too, is that it was given on the field as offside at the time. So it's not actually a VAR issue, if you took away VAR in this instance, it'd still have been offside too!

But anyway, Colombia deservedly won the group & were excellent!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@perchanches This was given offside on the field by the way, so ref's call would've still be offside!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@shipwreckedcrew @grok

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Abrego96 @FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe Maybe you think ^ that looks good in theory, but as I've crudely drawn on, in reality this is what would happen to defensive lines, they'd drop miles back to cover the attackers. It'd make thing much more defensive and cautious!
Plus, you'd still have inches to measure anyway!!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Abrego96 @FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe There's always going to be a measurement though, whatever you make it, even if "daylight" offside.
This old image details it. It shows where Sterling actually was (the cut out) & where he could move to to be 'onside' if new rule. Look how far ahead he'd be allowed to be! ...

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@Abrego96 @FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe For sure he did, you can read about him prominently in my two books on football history, here: https://t.co/bnNlToGMQo & https://t.co/KliJ5i4OEc.

Immensely important manager in his career, but he's now coming out with widely regarding poor ideas. & he's in FIFA's inner circle.

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe Here I've crudely drawn on what would happen to the defensive line if that was allowed. They'd all drop miles back wards to defend it, hence making it harder to score and more defensive, as you'd not want to get caught out!

[Gareth Thomas @GJ_Thomas]

@FOEddieCoyle @schadjoe Here's an example I just remembered from 2020,hence it looks old. You can see here this was a suggestion of how far 'onside' the Sterling would be able to be if you brought in 'whole body'. You can see the cut out of where he originally was, and he's been moved forwards to show…