Post by paulc222 on Jun 27, 2021 8:13:47 GMT
It seems the away goals rule has been abolished from now on. The main reason given is that it sometimes made home teams too defensive through fear of conceding at home.
It was originally brought in during the 1960s, I think, because away teams would often play for a 0-0 draw and try to nick victory at home. I seem to remember that in its early days, away goals counted double in the event of a tie over two legs, but I believe this was later amended to say simply that the team scoring more away goals would be the winners.
Although it was a reasonable idea at the time, I feel that subsequent changes to the game make it right for the rule to be abolished, for several reasons.
(1) when the rule started, teams could spend a large amount of time passing the ball between defenders and a goalkeeper who was allowed to pick up the passes in those days. This led to a lot of legal time wasting, usually by the away team. This meant that it was a lot easier to play for 0-0 away from home.
(2) referee training seems to have improved over the years and has extended to teaching refs how not to be swayed by home crowds.
(3) VAR helps to ensure that 50:50 decisions don't go mostly to the home team.
(4) defending teams don't seem to automatically get the benefit of the doubt these days - it was a lot easier to be given offside when not interfering at one point, and even 'level with defender' was given offside.
It's a lot harder to go for 0-0 now than it once was. I think the abolition of the away goals rule is right.
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