Sporting rule changes.

Which rule changes do you think would improve certain sports and make it more interesting for the spectators?

I'll start us off with the following:

1. There should be a line across the pitch in football (soccer to our American friends) 25 yards from goal. Players could not be offside outside this line. It works in Subuteo, so why not in the real thing?

2. The goalposts should be on tracks, so that the goals could be widenened by 6 inches for every 5 minutes played in extra time that a goal is not scored.

3. In darts the board should revolve to a different position randomly so that the 20 is not at the top all the time.

4. In baseball the deliberate bowling of 4 'wides' (called 'balls' I believe) should result in a half point penalty as well as a walk to first base.

5. Cricketers should be allowed to hit the ball twice. It would be quite exciting to see someone block the ball and then run out to hit it again whilst fielders tried to dive on the ball to stop them.

I'm sure there's plenty more that can be added.

Originally posted by ianpickering
Which rule changes do you think would improve certain sports and make it more interesting for the spectators?

I'll start us off with the following:

1. There should be a line across the pitch in football (soccer to our American friends) 25 yards from goal. Players could not be offside outside this line. It works in Subuteo, so why not in the real ...[text shortened]... ers tried to dive on the ball to stop them.

I'm sure there's plenty more that can be added.

Originally posted by rwingett
Why would you want an intentional walk to result in a "half point" penalty?

Originally posted by ianpickering
Because to me it is bad sportsmanship to deliberately stop a good batter trying to hit the ball. Has nobody ever complained about this? The idea is to stop it happening.

I think that in American Football it should not be allowed to take a free kick as a field goal attempt directly following a fair catch.
It ruins the whole balance of the sport.

In American football, it seems to me that the rules cheapen touchdowns. A player is running forward with the ball and is tackled from behind. He is stretched out forward as he is coming down toward the turf. His knees touch on the X yard line, and then a fraction of a second later his elbows hit the turf a yard or so past the X yard line, and another fraction of a second after that the football in his hand touches the turf another half-yard beyond that.

So where do they spot the ball? On the X yard line, where his knees touched. UNLESS the goal line happens to be somewhere between X and where his hands come down--then they say, "The ball passed the plane of the goal line, so it's a touchdown."

Similarly, if the ball carrier is pushed out of bounds, they spot the ball where the center of his hips intersected the sideline. UNLESS the goal line flag was near enough that he could extend the football in his hand beyond a vertical extension of the flag--then they say, "Touchdown."

Beef about NBA basketball: They don't enforce the "palming" rule these days. Guards especially are allowed to make contact with the lower half of the ball while dribbling. Back in my day, sonny boy, we would have been charged with a turnover had we done that.

in golf there should be no out of bounds 😀

Originally posted by ianpickering
Which rule changes do you think would improve certain sports and make it more interesting for the spectators?

I'll start us off with the following:

1. There should be a line across the pitch in football (soccer to our American friends) 25 yards from goal. Players could not be offside outside this line. It works in Subuteo, so why not in the real ...[text shortened]... ers tried to dive on the ball to stop them.

I'm sure there's plenty more that can be added.

Originally posted by Varg
In football, anyone who argues with the ref is sent off, no debate. Anyone who tries to fool the ref (taking a dive, etc.) is sent off. Perhaps not for the whole game - 10 mins should be enough.

1) In golf, the players should not be told where the hole is and instead made to play on compass bearings.

2) Footballers should be banned for appearing in the news for anything other than football

3) In Golden Goal extra time, hte normal football should be replaced with a ball which has a weight in one side

4) Bowls should have secret attacks like smoke screen, ice floor and magnetic jack

5) Darts players should weigh no more than 12 stone

The only rule change I would want to see is the elimination of the designated hitter in the American League. Pitchers should have to bat, just as they do in the National League.

Originally posted by Starrman
5) Darts players should weigh no more than 12 stone

Originally posted by ianpickering
Which rule changes do you think would improve certain sports and make it more interesting for the spectators?

I'll start us off with the following:

1. There should be a line across the pitch in football (soccer to our American friends) 25 yards from goal. Players could not be offside outside this line. It works in Subuteo, so why not in the real ...[text shortened]... ers tried to dive on the ball to stop them.

I'm sure there's plenty more that can be added.

Soccer - I don't know which rule to change, but find a way to remove the boredom from it.

Originally posted by wib
Soccer - I don't know which rule to change, but find a way to remove the boredom from it.