You're right to say that opposition from the big clubs shouldn't be an issue MtheG .
But I still think that the rule change would be too much of a change -it would be more like changing the game rather than just changing a rule. The rule was introduced in the game's infancy ,as you said , to stop goal-hanging. You say that the game could surely develop techniques to obviate goal-hanging .I don't know how you can be so sure.

The game's history and everyday experience of playing without the rule show that football played "naturally" gravitates to goal-hanging . That was how they found things in football's infancy and that's why they introduced the rule . The introduction of the off-side rule altered the game to allow football to become the great sport it is today. To change the rule would have as big an impact to the game as its original introduction . That's why I'd urge caution.

Why are Fifa introducing the change in lower divisions ? I haven't trusted that lot since they made a proposal a few years ago to look into the possibiity of altering the length of the game so that there could be breaks every twenty minutes to allow for advertising slots. That was when they were trying to get America to take the sport seriously. Seriously.

To the Americans reading this. I know y'all aren't happy unless you have goals, goals, goals ,but don't let the offie abolishionists fool you into thinking that it's the rule that's stopping the goals thundering into the back of the nets. The reason why there aren't so many goals these days is because they haven't got Jimmy Greaves playing anymore .Pure and simple.