1975, 'The experimental offside line'.

[Hibernia&Alba]

Celtic V Hibs, 1975. What was the experimental offside line that's referred to? I've never heard of it before. The edge of the box is painted across to the side of the pitch. I just came across it whilst watching some old highlights.


Two classic football kits here.


http://youtu.be/eTcS_VldPT0

[Kojock]

It was tried in the Drybough Cup. Basically the only part of the pitch you could be offside was within 18 yards from goal instead of the half way line.

[Onceinawhile]

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Celtic V Hibs, 1975. What was the experimental offside line that's referred to? I've never heard of it before. The edge of the box is painted across to the side of the pitch. I just came across it whilst watching some old highlights.


Two classic football kits here.


http://youtu.be/eTcS_VldPT0

You either couldn't be offside if you were past that line, or that's where offside started. One of the two.

[Hibernia&Alba]

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It was tried in the Drybough Cup. Basically the only part of the pitch you could be offside was within 18 yards from goal instead of the half way line.

Cheers for that. Do you know whether it made much of a difference?

[linlithgowhibbie]

A few more longer balls, and a few less offside decisions!!!

[nonshinyfinish]

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A few more longer balls, and a few less offside decisions!!!

And Tam McCourt got an extra pound a week to do the lines. It was a lot of money back then.

[Ray_]

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Cheers for that. Do you know whether it made much of a difference?

We beat the then Cup Winners Cup holders Rangers 3-0 at ER in the semi & the final [1972] saw Hibs and Celtic sharing 8 goals in 120 minutes, with Hibs getting 5 of them. But then Hibs Celtic cup finals rained goals in around that time and it was the only one of four occasions when we hit the jackpot in a cup final goals bonanza.

[ShadesLongThrow]

My memory of that rule change was watching Joe Harper spend the whole match standing on that line waiting for a long ball and to be fair, I seem to remember he scored quite a few because of it.

[Jonnyboy]

That Hibs strip is a thing of absolute beauty

[Ringothedog]

[QUOTE=Hibernia&Alba;4216920]Celtic V Hibs, 1975. What was the experimental offside line that's referred to? I've never heard of it before. The edge of the box is painted across to the side of the pitch. I just came across it whilst watching some old highlights.


Two classic football kits here.


http://youtu.be/eTcS_VldPT0[/QUOTE

It certainly was not 1975, the video shown has to be 1972 when we beat them 5-3 as the following year we beat them 1-0

[Hibernia&Alba]

[QUOTE=eddiethedog;4217065]

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Celtic V Hibs, 1975. What was the experimental offside line that's referred to? I've never heard of it before. The edge of the box is painted across to the side of the pitch. I just came across it whilst watching some old highlights.


Two classic football kits here.


http://youtu.be/eTcS_VldPT0[/QUOTE

It certainly was not 1975, the video shown has to be 1972 when we beat them 5-3 as the following year we beat them 1-0

Cheers for that, eddie, it's before my time. First time I'd seen this footage.

[brog]

I remember Jimmy Johnstone scoring 2 against us in the 1972 final which would have been offside in normal circumstances. I'm pretty sure rule was still in operation in 1973 when we won again but I can't remember 1974 at all for some reason!

[Ray_]

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I remember Jimmy Johnstone scoring 2 against us in the 1972 final which would have been offside in normal circumstances. I'm pretty sure rule was still in operation in 1973 when we won again but I can't remember 1974 at all for some reason!

1974 would have been the League Cup, 6-3 game.

[Kaiser1962]

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I remember Jimmy Johnstone scoring 2 against us in the 1972 final which would have been offside in normal circumstances. I'm pretty sure rule was still in operation in 1973 when we won again but I can't remember 1974 at all for some reason!

Johnstone scored 2 in 5 minutes in the second half of the 1972 Drybrough Cup Final after Hibs had been 3-0 up. Game went to extra time and we won 5-3. As Ray says they were two very good teams with some high scoring finals, Celtic had beaten us in the SC Final 6-1 just 13 weeks, or two competitive games, earlier.

[brog]

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1974 would have been the League Cup, 6-3 game.

I've tried to blot that one out Ray but I really meant the 1974 Drybrough Cup. We lost 3-2 to oldco at ER but I can't remember a thing about the game or whether experimental offside rule still applied. I may have been on hols as games were played in July.

[HH81]

I think we should try this again in one of the cups to see how it works?

[StevieT]

From what I can remember;

• The penalty area was extended across to each sideline
• You could not be offside between the two extended lines
• Teams played one attacker who 'patrolled' the edge of the penalty area thus forcing the defending team to play deep defenders
• The game was therefore played mainly between the two penalty area so midfiled players must have been as fit as.....
• We won the cup twice - 5-3 aet and 1-0 both against Celtc
• To the best of my knowledge it was only played one other time, Aberdeen being the winners against Celtc (I could be wrong here)

[jdships]

Remember speaking to Arthur Duncan at the time and he was really up for it.
With his pace he was perfectly suited to the " rule"
From memory I think I am right in saying there were very mixed opinions re the set up and there was little " protest" when it was abandoned

[brog]

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1974 would have been the League Cup, 6-3 game.

I hadn't looked at the video Ray. You're quite correct, that's the 1974 LC final. I had completely forgotten that was also played under the experimental rules!

[Stevie Reid]

The offside line in Subbuteo was better positioned.

[Keith_M]

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The offside line in Subbuteo was better positioned.

Could we fit all 22 players and the Ref on a Subbuteo pitch though?

[Stevie Reid]

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Could we fit all 22 players and the Ref on a Subbuteo pitch though?

subbuteo-red-strip-costume1-27115.jpg

[Franck Stanton]

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From what I can remember;

• The penalty area was extended across to each sideline
• You could not be offside between the two extended lines
• Teams played one attacker who 'patrolled' the edge of the penalty area thus forcing the defending team to play deep defenders
• The game was therefore played mainly between the two penalty area so midfiled players must have been as fit as.....
• We won the cup twice - 5-3 aet and 1-0 both against Celtc
• To the best of my knowledge it was only played one other time, Aberdeen being the winners against Celtc (I could be wrong here)
  

Played for one more year and Rangers won it so Dryburgh let them keep the Cup.

[Kato]

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From what I can remember;
The penalty area was extended across to each sideline

The penalty area was as is, hence those lines being as normal. The 18 yard line was extended to the touchline and you could only be offside between there and the byeline.

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I hadn't looked at the video Ray. You're quite correct, that's the 1974 LC final. I had completely forgotten that was also played under the experimental rules!

You're right, brog. MacArthur and Bremner didn't play in the 5-3 Drybrough Cup game but are playing in the above match. There's a little bit on wiki regarding this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offside...tball)#History


During the 1973–74 and 1974–75 seasons, an experimental version of the offside rule was operated in the Scottish League Cup and Drybrough Cup competitions.[10] The concept was that offside should only apply in the last 18 yards of play (i.e. inside or beside the penalty area).[10] To signify this, the horizontal line of the penalty area was extended to the touchlines.[10] FIFA President Sir Stanley Rous attended the 1973 Scottish League Cup Final, which was played using these rules.[10] The manager of one of the teams involved, Celtic manager Jock Stein, complained that it was unfair to expect teams to play under one set of rules in one game and then a different set a few days before or later.[10] The experiment was quietly dropped after the 1974–75 season, as no proposal for a further experiment or rule change was submitted for the Scottish Football Association board to consider.[10]

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My memory of that rule change was watching Joe Harper spend the whole match standing on that line waiting for a long ball and to be fair, I seem to remember he scored quite a few because of it.

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I think we should try this again in one of the cups to see how it works?

I seem to remember that the expremiment drew initial praise then was criticized as time went on. It's true that there plenty of goals and attackers could roam around outside the offside area but then managers started planking centre halfs to man mark those attackers in the same. Complaints were in cut out certain aspects of midfield play and games became too predictable.

[Pretty Boy]

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That Hibs strip is a thing of absolute beauty

Spot on.

Perfect shade of green, perfect style.

[PeeJay]

I remember the rule, didn't like it then, wouldn't like it now -anyone know if it was used anywhere else?

[ancient hibee]

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My memory of that rule change was watching Joe Harper spend the whole match standing on that line waiting for a long ball and to be fair, I seem to remember he scored quite a few because of it.

I feel your memory may be playing tricks

[snooky]

Aye, I remember it. The midfield players were totally knacked.
The forwards and defenders never moved off the 18 yard line and the midders ran their guts out up and down the park for 90 mins.
Nice idea but didny work.

[eastterrace]

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Aye, I remember it. The midfield players were totally knacked.
The forwards and defenders never moved off the 18 yard line and the midders ran their guts out up and down the park for 90 mins.
Nice idea but didny work.

well it worked for us as we won two cup finals and reached the league cup final using it

[Ray_]

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Aye, I remember it. The midfield players were totally knacked.
The forwards and defenders never moved off the 18 yard line and the midders ran their guts out up and down the park for 90 mins.
Nice idea but didny work.

Scoring eight goals in four days against Rantic, for me it worked very well.

Great memories, Colin Stein slidding in against Onion, he draws the ball back and Stein goes hurtling in to the dirt track & the 5-3 against Celtic was purely magical, especially so soon after the 6-1 game.

For those not around back then and there'll be many The competition was for the top scoring teams in the two leagues that existed at the time, four teams from the first and four second division. In the first round the top division teams played those from the second & Hibs in the true spirit of the competition scored 4 in the first game against Montrose I think it was, followed that up by three against Rangers.

We were 3-0 up in the final when we lost our first goal in the competition and Celtic brought it back to 3-3. This was after crowd trouble in the Celtic end of the pitch, stopped play, with Hibs 3-0 up and after Celtic getting back on terms the match went in to extra time, Jimmy O'Rourke scored a screamer and Arthur Duncan scored another great goal in the final minute of extra time and that was that.

The next morning one of the "Sunday's" headline stated "magnificient Hibs" and the reporter followed by saying that he didn't think there was a team anywhere in the world, who could score five against the Scottish champions".

Great reading for a then sixteen year old, although the hack must have forgotten that under a year earlier, the Jags had scored four against the same Celtic by half time, in the 71 League Cup Final Joking apart, that Celtic team were by far the best I've ever seen in Scotland & it says bundles about the TT's that they could match them on occasions.