Handball, offside, VAR – is football too complicated?

Bill Shankly’s famous line that “football is a simple game, complicated by people who should know better” has never felt more prescient. The legendary Liverpool manager, who ruled the Anfield dugout from 1959 to 1974, operated in an age devoid of rolling news cycles, social-media outrage and, most notably, the video assistant referee. Were Shankly patrolling a technical area today, the Scot might reach for language even more colourful.

Across stadiums and sofas alike, supporters increasingly struggle to keep pace with the sport’s shifting regulations. Handball interpretations mutate by the season, offside decisions hinge on microscopic margins unearthed by slow-motion replays, and VAR has transformed the spontaneous roar of a goal into a tentative wait for forensic validation. The question is no longer rhetorical: has football genuinely become too complicated?

No law triggers more bewilderment than handball. Revisions have arrived so frequently that players, coaches and fans abandon any attempt to stay current. “I just hate the handball rule,” Alan Shearer told BBC Sport. “They have messed it up … deliberate, proximity, natural, unnatural – there are so many different ways they have to interpret things and it isn’t fit for purpose.” The former England striker did not even touch upon the accidental attacking handball clause that automatically voids a goal, an offence that would not apply to a defender in the same phase of play. Paradoxically, the Premier League’s application of the law remains the most restrained among Europe’s leading divisions, averaging fewer spot-kicks, yet the perception of injustice persists.

Contrary to popular belief, the handball overhaul did not materialise to accommodate VAR. The International Football Association Board began redrawing the law in 2014, two years before the first live trials of the review system. The rewritten code supplied a checklist of justifications, and once high-definition replays entered the equation, referees found it almost too convenient to award penalties. A continent-wide surge in spot-kicks followed, prompting Ifab to tinker repeatedly in search of equilibrium that remains elusive.

Offside, once a straightforward matter of “daylight” between attacker and defender, now invites debate over phases, interference and deliberate plays. Virgil van Dijk’s disallowed header at Manchester City on 9 November illustrated the confusion: full-back Andrew Robertson ducked under the cross, never touching the ball, yet was adjudged to have impeded goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Critics insist lawmakers have over-engineered the statute, but historical context offers a counter-argument. The 1903-04 Laws stated that a forward could not “in any way whatever interfere with an opponent or the play,” a phrasing designed to prevent poachers lingering with impunity. Modern tweaks, frustrating as they seem, aim to preserve that original intent.

Even the concept of a “deliberate play” has become a semantic labyrinth. Introduced in 2016-17 to reset offside phases, the clause initially rewarded attackers when defenders merely stretched out a boot. Kylian Mbappé’s contentious winner for France against Spain in the 2021 Nations League final forced Ifab’s hand. The law now demands that a defender have a “controlled outcome” in mind; a ricochet or desperate stab no longer plays an opponent onside. The nuance is lost on many supporters who still equate any touch with a reset.

VAR’s tentacles reach beyond individual calls, altering the rhythm and culture of the game. Microscopic offsides slow momentum, while the protocol for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity has been softened. If a defender makes a genuine attempt to play the ball inside the penalty area, the punishment is now a yellow card, not a red. Only overtly cynical pulls or pushes earn an early bath. Arsenal fans felt the collateral damage on Sunday when Pedro Neto’s trip on Gabriel Martinelli yielded a second yellow and a stoppage that killed a promising attack; the law prohibits playing advantage on a sending-off unless a goal is imminent.

Supporters once argued, shrugged and moved on. Now every incident invites a lecture on sub-clauses buried in referee-only briefings. Saturday’s Ifab annual business meeting rubber-stamped another raft of tweaks for the World Cup and the 2026-27 season. VAR will vet corners and already-issued second yellows, but not goal-kicks or potential second yellows that have yet to be brandished. Throw-ins and goal-kicks face a five-second countdown; corners escape the stopwatch. Substituted players must sprint off within ten seconds; treated players remain on the touchline for a full minute. Trials of Arsène Wenger’s “daylight” offside proposal loom on the horizon, promising yet another layer of interpretation.

Football risks evolving from a spectacle into an open-book examination, its spontaneity filtered through slow-motion grids and legal jargon. The beautiful game was once defined by instinct; now it is governed by footnotes. Whether the sport can rediscover simplicity without sacrificing fairness is the puzzle confronting lawmakers – and baffling everyone else.