Whilst considering the markings on a football pitch, I realised that there are a quite a few that are not needed or which could be modernised and brought into the 21st century. There would be considerable savings on paint in probably millions of pitches the world over. It would reduce football's environmental impact greatly by a few simple acts. Firstly. The six yard box. There's no NEED for it to be a box. It could just be a line across the front of the goal. Even a dotted line. The old box only serves one purpose - where to take goal kicks from and a dotted line is perfectly adequate. You have to take the kick on or behind the line. Paint savings - 85% Secondly. The edge markings around the pitch. They could be half the width. We have the technology now about all the ball crossing the line to 1mm. We don't need these big fat thick lines from the old days! Paint savings - 50% Thirdly. The centre circle is also extravagant and a waste of Paint for the one single purpose it serves at kick off. No reason whatsoever it couldn't be dotted. Paint savings - 50% or 75% with new 'thin line' convention. Fourthly. The D round the penalty area only has one job and could also be dotted and you may as well do the corner quadrants too, because they only just take notice of them now. Paint savings - 50% Fifthly. The manager's technical area. This could be laid out with a piece of tape or a rope. No need for it. If they move the rope with their feet it's a yellow card. Paint savings - 100% It's time for change! Who's with me on this one?
The fifth one wasn't a thing until reasonably recently, I agree the lines are unnecessary where an alternative colours bit of astroturf would suffice. Sixthly, the quadrants by the corner flags, for 99% of corners the taker will place the ball on the goal line or the side line, so like that is a 6" marker at 10 yards they could do the same near the corners. Won't save much mind.
Agree with all except point 5. Should be those electric fences they keep cows in with a small door that can only be unlocked by 4th official when required.
I was thinking of marking the edges of the technical area with a line of recycling bins. Another environmental plus.
Some flaws in your plan. - Clubs the world over will have to buy new line-marking equipment which wouldn't be cheap if you want the ability to make lines of variable widths and/or with dashes. - More environmentally unfriendly turps would be needed to clean this complex new line-marking equipment. - Smaller pots of paint would not be cost-effective and if you got the normal larger pots they'd dry out if left half-empty over a year, or the lids wouldn't come off. - Refs and linos would not be able to see the thinner and/or dashed lines as easily, leading to more decisions questioned by everyone. Line-crossing technology would be too expensive for all but the richest clubs to install, as is the case now. - Rope with sensors to detect if a manager moves it as they leave their technical area would be expensive. Much better to make the technical area circular and attach managers to their seats with a bit of normal rope, say 5m in length (radius). Or for the fun factor, make it elasticated rope which would yank them back to their seat if they stretched it too much. - Ultimately, your paint-saving tips would lead to pitches that are unaesthetically pleasing to attending fans and TV audiences, which of course is the most important factor.
Play on a patch of grass the exact size of a football pitch. Throw ins would have to be taken standing still, meaning fewer foul throws. Would save a lot of water not having to water the bit of grass beyond the touchline.
Pitches ought to be a standard size too. There shouldn't be the variation of bigger and smaller, fatter and thinner. You wouldn't have it in any other sport. You wouldn't have chess where they say, oh we're playing on a 9x9 81 square board today, or the darts where the home team plays on a board that only goes up to 17. You just wouldn't have it. The dimensions need to be laid down in the laws.
You could save a lot of electricity by not posting. Just saying like In all seriousness dotted lines would be a PITA to mark out, especially for the sunday leagues. either new equipment or extra time required probably negating any cost saving. Managers should be connected to the dugout by a piece of strong elastic, only the strongest could venture more than 4 feet from their seat. The thought of the likes of Holloway & Howe recoiling into the first row would bring a welcome dose of entertainment.
Also there shouldn't be a penalty spot. The referee can pace out the spot whenever a kick is awarded and simply place the ball the requisite 12 yards each time. Nets are also superfluous. With goal line technology, the officials know when the ball is in, so allow it to shoot through an empty frame, into the fans, giving them some extra excitement.
I'm fed up of having to have 100 replacement balls at matches. It's such a waste of money. I'd ask all the players (and fans) to wear VR goggles and just use a virtual ball. Then you'd only need one ball for eternity, and it would instantly appear on the touchline, even if the opposition players punt the virtual ball into the stands and the fans wont give it back. For a bit of enjoyment, you could then create ludicrous situations where every fan gets to catch or hit a ball that goes into the stands, as we'd all like to do if we haven't already.
Instead of hundreds of thousands of pounds of audio visual equipment they could cover the game with far less fuss and more fun. A pitch side telegraphist bashes out a live description of the action in Morse code, which is received in a studio with a single camera and then a cartoonist sketches the action for the amusement of the watching audience, whilst a mime reenacts key moments of action.
The box should be semi circular like 5 a side, that way penalties only get given for fouls that are likely to prevent dangerous chances, rather than someone just flinging themselves over in the corner of the box who had next to no chance of scoring from there.
All goal kicks to be taken from the penalty spot. Drop the 6 yard box altogether. All exterior lines to be done with (non lethal) lasers. Would also help to define if the ball went out.
Penalty/goal kick spot to be marked out with stones collected from around the ground. No need for expensive chalk paint.
