CTG Blog : Offside’s Long History

Offside has come a long way since the first games of football were played in the 1800’s.  Before there was an accepted set of rules, soccer looked a lot like rugby today, you were offside if you received a pass ahead of your teammate who passed it.  The first official offside rule was put into place in 1863, a player was onside if there were three opposing players between him and the opposing team’s net.  Yes, that is right, you had to have two outfield players and the keeper clearly – meaning they could not be even with them – between you and the opponent’s goal.  This led to a game with very few clear chances and even fewer goals.  Compounding the issue, at this point in the history of football passing was almost frowned upon, so the only way a chance could be created is if a player dribbled through multiple opponents to score.  What if the rules remained the same, what would the game look like now?

In 1925, the offside rule took another step forward, only requiring two players between you and your opponent’s goal.  The update made offside similar the current rules, the only difference being an attacker could not be level with the defender to be considered onside. Even still this left the game with less goals than desired, so another change was in order.

In 1990 offside rules inched its way forward to where we are today: an attacker to be even with the second to last defender.  This has allowed attackers to play off the shoulder of the last defender, making it easier to create clean breaks and take up better positions to finish crosses. 

Maybe this time we should not wait 65 years to make an adjustment!