The Three Sub Rule: Why?

Where did you read this? Subs came as late as the early 1970s, before that there were no subs. If players were injured, teams had to continue a man short. And three subs were introduced in the 1990s if I remember correctly.

I like the three subs rule. Too many interruptions with 5 or 6 subs. Sometimes they try that in international friendlies and the game isn't getting any better.

 

I'd add that there is some subtlety in choosing the exact right moments when you should spend the only three substitutions you have, that other team-sports don't have. I like very much this kind of chess-like tactical decisions football coaches have to take.

Also, I don't think anyone but Americans have problems with this rule; on the other hand, it's not like they can insist on turning every sport into basketball, if the rest of the world doesn't agree.

 

As an Italian, I suppose you remember the men's Euro 2012 final.

 

Why, oh why you have to rub it in my face, Bauser?

 

Originally 0 sub, then one, then two, then three. Now we are at four available when there is extra time.

I think the three plus one rule is not bad.
Three is a good number for a regular game. It only becomes a problem if a team gets a lot of injuries.

 

Maybe this is because I'm an American, but I've always thought it would be cool to have max of 3 subs per half. I feel this would really add to the tactical decision making of what subs to use.

 

For soccer (real football) the current system is about as good as it gets. I remember the MLS toying with a 3+goalkeeper and several teams subverting the rule by switching a field player for the GK and briefly having the GK playing in the field and then subbing for the field/keeper and the switching that player withe the real GK. The effectively produced a 4th sub in real time. It did not produce any better play that I noticed and it did result in a period of poorer field play for a number of teams that tried it.

That shows that it is probably not a good idea to tamper with FIFA's laws and any changes should be at the level of FIFA after a good period of deliberation and a further period of testing.

In fact I mostly do not like the unlimited subs at the youth level or even the rather convoluted college system. While I do not think youth soccer should be the same as the adult one I do think that it would be a good idea to limit subs at the youth level somewhat and I think that college should go to something like unlimited but once you are subbed you are done.

At the top level conditioning should play a fairly large part and the limiting of subs insures that it will. As age drops there is increasing possibilities of stress related injuries that impact grouth and development so subs should be allowed to be greater.

 

I agree with this. In addition to rewarding conditioning, the current sub rule requires players and teams to learn how to manage themselves so they have something left as the game progresses. Any significant expansion of the sub rule would change this, and it would make soccer a completely different game.

 

This, by the way, is one of my points. @L'orange's objection sounds a little as "why football (can't manage to call it soccer, sorry) can't be like any other sport in USA"? Because it's different. A different sport, period. No need to tame it to particular standards a single nation has for its other sports.

 

L'Orange is an Ajax fan, and appears to be from the Netherlands, so I'm not sure this is an American wanting to change futbol to mimic what other sports do in the USA.

(My reading of posts from USA fans on the Women's College Soccer thread says that most USA fans dislike the unlimited subs rule the NCAA has. They would rather the college teams follow the FIFA rules. And, for MLS and NWSL, I haven't heard any significant suggestions that they move away from the FIFA rules.)

But, wherever the suggestion is coming from, I don't think a change would be good.

 

Oh, ok, his posts on other threads had led me to believe that he was anyway living in USA, but I could be wrong. This doesn't change my point, and I of course agree with you that the rule doesn't need to be changed.

 

Or, he's possibly an American who has spent time in the Netherlands, which is a distinct possibility if he's associated with a sport shoe company. I I did notice that his use of language makes him "read" like an American.

 

in the US,the unlimited rule has made woso extremely popular,; it's the #1 female participation sport in college. It's also had a huge influence as well on the highly competitive youth market, in what's about a thousand "pay to play" mom & pop select clubs where parents pay good money for coaches to teach them & of course play them(thus it be bad for business to do the 3 sub limit FIFA rules)

so basically, unlimited sub rule works in this country as far as popularity, and hasn't hurt us when switching to FIFA rules as we've been the most consistent country at #1 in the woso world rankings

 

At youth level it's common with unlimited subs in Europe as well. The senior game at pro level needs a different set of rules though. Imagine how much added time we would have to play with unlimited subs at pro level with all the time-wasting going on. I mean, there was a reason to the backpass rule being implemented in the early 90s. Football needs the game to be flowing. Fans hate stops in the game. More subs means more stops = bad for the game.

 

Not to nitpick but...
FIFA doesn't decide the rules of association football (aka soccer) or rather it alone do not do that. That is done by IFAB (The International Football Association Board), a board where FIFA have 4 votes and the four UK federations one each and changes need to be approved by 2/3 of the votes.

 

There's been a lot of debate about the relatively unlimited substitution rule in USA college soccer. For one thing, it probably has contributed to the lack of parity among teams. With a 3-sub rule, the better players likely would distribute themselves more widely.

 

As long as college soccer demands an 11 week season to play 20+ games, I doubt a 3 sub rule could be practical, and it might not spread the talent out. It might instead lead coaches to stack more players on a team to have fresh legs for the second game of a weekend.

It might work if the season were extended to say, a Spring/fall championship season, which was one recent proposal on the men’s side.

 

we are talking about woso where a few hundred fans show up to a typical Algarve Cup game(even if it's between 2 top ten FIFA ranked teams) lol

though the famous North Carolina U used it to the fullest extend, most teams in the US aren't going to sub indefinitely/but mostly in key moments. One problem over here, most high school/college rues insist on having a winner on all league/district games(thus lots of o.t.) But here are some other advantages that I can think of;

keep better tabs on injuries to players(if their still on the field)

bring in new battle plans to the players on the field thus make it more strategic(co-incidence that FIFA coy, Sarina Wiegmann played at U of NC?)

gives a chance for overly stacked teams to switch to all their subs when their comfortably ahead(then back if do start loosing). if you know, one of NOR key players, Minde, just sits & sits & sits on the Wolfsburg bench these days. where as she & so many other talented players would be used way more.

it would actually make o.t.'s way more exciting as we've seen so many times both teams run out of gas

 

If you have unlimited subs, you change the nature of the game. It is quite simple you sub your lines like in hockey and do full pitch press.

Then you cant play football any more; because, it is virtually impossible to get out of your own half under a well organised full press except by long balling in the empty space...

 

I surmise you haven’t read the Ncaa rules. There is no unlimited substitutions. Thee is only one re-entry allowed in the second period. If you come out of a period otherwise, you can’t re-enter unlit the next period. (There are exceptions for keepers and players injured by a cautionable foul.)

So there are no running lines like hockey of Lacrosse. Further, it would be dificult to run lines in playoffs and the tournament , since there is a 21player limit for most conferences and the NCAA tournament.

 

I have no problem with either the 3-sub rule of the pros or the nearly unlimited sub rule of colleges and youth teams.

I don't think it would be a good idea to adopt the 3 sub rule for college and youth teams. The conditioning of the amateur players is not up to professional standards, nor should it be. I have seen too many overheated girls in amateur matches to want to go to a 3 sub rule.

What I would like to see (as a typical American) is some experimentation to cause more scoring -- with the goal of having a 3-2 score being typical rather than the lower scores now common.

Among the people I know, most are uninterested in soccer because "nothing ever happens." I have seen ticket-buyers walk out of games in disgust at halftime because the score is 0-0.

I see no reason for teams and leagues in the US to adhere religiously to FIFA standards. There are different rules for football and basketball around the world and between pros and amateurs in the U.S.

 

If you want more scoring, just call the laws as written. Caution for holding , especially in the box, as IFAB pleaded for refs to do.

Right now it looks like WWF on corners because no ref ever calls it.

 

but that's exactly the way the US plays even with FIFA rules.EXCEPT

1) rather than "full pitch press" you compress it to half pitch by moving your back line way up to midfield(so hence; only half the pitch to press)

2) rather than go a full 90 minutes, you ease the paddle a bit at intro various times(especially midway in the 2nd half if you got the lead)

3) though conditioning is the #1 priority, it does help at these lighter tournaments that they allow 6 subs(especially the SBC with no o.t.)

Ells used the half pitch press so perfectly at the SBC, though shocked how badly both Germany & England both responded by trying to short passing it(for ball possession) from the back. as it was so easy for the US to trap them in their own half

in my preview of the SBC tourney(before it started) I did note that the only way to beat the US is by quickly high balling it over their high back line. & that's exactly why France was able to score(vs the US at SBC). If you remember, it was M'Bock, deep inside own penalty box for the 'Hail Mary' pass to ELS for the goal

 

another reason why the 3 sub rule might be impractical is the of lack pre season practice on average of the one thousand or so college teams. The experiences with my own kid; 6 pre season practices of which she could only attend 4 of them(thanks to the 380 miles round trip). Had her first game the afternoon she moved into her dorm!

btw........Clive, my kid made the roster of an WPSL team(they advertised themselves as 'semi pro' but obviously aren't going to pay since it's a almost all college lineup). Would you know what sub rule the WPSL uses?(with the start of the season a week away, she told me she don't know yet)