Offside Explained
A short-form explainer app for football fans that breaks down the week's biggest refereeing decisions (offside, handball, DOGSO) with frame-by-frame graphics and the actual IFAB/Laws of the Game text.
premier-league and championship fans who want to understand controversial decisions without tribal shouting
- Weekly decision breakdowns of the most-debated calls across Europe, with frame-by-frame graphics
- Plain-English mapping from 'what happened' to the exact IFAB law and referee guidance
- Side-by-side: 'why the referee gave it' vs 'why fans and pundits reacted'
- Push alerts when a controversial decision is reviewed post-match by IFAB or PGMOL
Taylor's retirement puts refereeing scrutiny and decision-making back in the public conversation; fans complain about refs partly because they don't know the laws; an explainer tool humanises officials and could shift the culture Taylor described.
Multiple existing products prove demand: FanVAR browser tool, offsideornot.com decision game, FootyMetrics and Guide to Football explainer sites, plus the official IFAB Laws of the Game app — fans actively seek this content.FanVAR — Free Offside Analyzer for Football Fans ↗Offside or Not | Do you agree with VAR or not ↗Laws of the Game | Official IFAB Football Rules ↗
Closest competitors (FanVAR, Offside or Not) are tools/games rather than a weekly short-form editorial explainer with IFAB cross-referencing, but the space is populated enough that differentiation must be sharp.FanVAR — Free Offside Analyzer for Football Fans ↗Offside or Not | Do you agree with VAR or not ↗
Football fans pay for content (DAZN CA$24.99/mo, Peacock US$7.99/mo for PL), but a niche explainer likely competes with free Tifo-style YouTube/social content; realistic model is freemium at ~$3-5/mo, capping revenue.Here's how fans in Canada can watch English Premier League soccer this season ↗How much does DAZN cost in Canada? ↗
Football fandom and refereeing controversies are permanent.
IFAB text is free and technically trivial to ship, but frame-by-frame PL clip graphics require rights to broadcast footage (real cost barrier) and weekly editorial curation is labor-intensive — not a trivial build.