August 2000

The ref could move the ball 10 yards nearer to the goal if there is dissent from the defending players or they don't move back 10 yards quick enough

The goalkeeper has to release the ball from hands after 6 seconds or have an indirect free kick against him

When was the last time you saw either?

August 2000.

The six second rule replaced the four step rule. The latter was awkward to call — I was a ref at the time — and overly proscriptive. If a goalie took a little hop or skip before he kicked the ball should it count as a step? Kids had a real problem with it, for most of them counting steps while simultaneously getting rid of the ball was tough.

The six second rule was better because it addressed the intent of the four step rule, while allowing some latitude. I think it's been successful. You don't see goalkeepers hanging on to the ball like you used to, but you don't see silly free-kicks in the area either.

The extra 10 feet, I dunno. It's been a long time since I've seen it called for sure, but I don't think there's as much time-wasting as there once was either. I guess it's a relative comparison however.

The extra 10 feet was a trial wasn't it, and is no longer a rule I think

I can't quite remember - was the rule actually that if the wall didn't move back 10 yards fast enough, the attacking team had the option of moving the free kick forwards? Because if it was automatically moved forwards, that would provide a strong incentive to fuck about in the wall when the free kick was in a sweet spot.

No, it was simply a dissent thing. Never enforced, therefore never implemented.

The last time I saw the sex second rule implemented was when Alan Shearer spent ten seconds committing obstruction against Jussi Jaaskelainen's run for ten seconds, before mark Clattenburg - the biggest starfucker in football - gave the free kick to Newcastle, and the winning goal came.

That was the one and only time I've seen it done. Every other time I've known people moaning about goalkeepers keeping hold of the ball too long, they've always added the time on to the end of the game.

Taylor wrote:


No, it wasn't optional. Too often the team awarded the free kick suffered, especially when the free kick was moved too close to goal to get the ball "up and down" over the wall and on target. That's why the rule was retracted after a season or two.

Yeah, that and often moving the free kick 10 yards made little difference.

It was a dissent thing, but I think it was only trialled in the Football League, which is why Kettle might not have seen it. It was scrapped because sometimes it punished the wrong side, and it wasn't being being applied consistently.

Kettlist Kharkiv wrote:


What he'd give to be a Minute Man, apparently.

As I've said over the past 12 years, the no-pass-back and the 6-second rule were the two greatest inventions in the game since the yellow/red card.

The no pass back forced the action to be played in the field, and took away minutes of lame passbacks and essentially put minutes back into the game (these days, a passback usually ends up in the gk's big clearance with a onetouch clearance instead of picking it up and wasting a minute.)

The 6-second-rule was absolutely majestic: Not only did it force keepers to get rid of it quickly, but by sprinting to the edge of the box and increasing the odds of rolling/throwing to their own players, they took a 50/50 header off a punt and turned it into a direct counter-attack.

Immediately after the rule was instituted, I saw goals from throwing to the outside midfielder to the forward for a breakaway/1v1. It truly turned the keeper into the first attacker in practice instead of theory.

Why do they call it dissent? That makes it sound worth listening to, like a Chomsky lecture. Why not call it "being a dick?"

Reed John wrote:


If the referee had to book more than one player for dissent does that make the protagonists dissidents?

The 6-second-rule was absolutely majestic: Not only did it force keepers to get rid of it quickly, but by sprinting to the edge of the box and increasing the odds of rolling/throwing to their own players, they took a 50/50 header off a punt and turned it into a direct counter-attack.

There used to be a bloke in the crowd at Orient who always loudly counted to Six everytime the away keeper got the ball. He was always dissappointed that the ref took no notice.

Fair play he kept it up for a long time.