European soccer doesn’t like to make any substantial rule changes to a game that they feel is just fine the way that it currently is. The last change of any substance was the elimination of the back pass to the goalkeeper in 1992. Still, just because the game is played a certain way, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be subject to at least the possibility of change, and in order to try out a worthwhile change, that change needs to actually be conducted down on the pitch, to see whether or not, it has merit. One of those changes is the offsides rule, which in this particular suggested case, would take the current situation in which a player cannot be offsides in his own half of the pitch, and change it to the case that a player cannot be offsides if he is at least 40 yards away from the opponent’s goal line, thereby suitably marked with a blue line. That is to say, this suggested change would take the current pitch which basically ranges from 110 yards to 116 yards in length and instead of making it half the distance from there to not be an offsides, it would instead make it 40 yards from the opponent’s goal line, thereby providing the forward player with a better opportunity to make a dramatic counterattack and to possibly score.
If we were to surmise that the basic field length is 114 yards, that would mean the offsides would move from currently being 57 yards away from the opponent’s goal line to 40 yards, which would definitely make a material difference in play and strategy, but wouldn’t though be an overwhelming change. That said, the only real way to see how professional soccer players would adjust to such a change would be to see how it played out in exhibitions before the start of the season, and those that are the keepers of the integrity of the game, could discuss the pros and cons of this suggested change. It would be suspected that by moving the offsides to further up the field, that there would be more scoring, but not every change as envisioned, actually ends up playing out as expected, which is why this proposed change would need to be thoroughly tested.
So too, perhaps the average fan really does want to see more games that end with the score of 0-0, in addition to the possibility that fans appreciate seeing players being flagged for being offsides, though this seems to be a real stretch as a theory. In fact, most fans like to see goals being scored, because it gives them a chance to celebrate as well as to appreciate the value of that goal. Additionally, players like to score goals for not only the joy of putting one into the back of the net, but also because winning is the expressed desire of every player participating, of which at least one goal needs to be scored then in order for any one team to possibly win. So then, change the offsides rule, and see how it plays out, for the good of the game.