Do we need the offside law?

In (at least) one edition of the The Fast Show a football-enthusiast at a dinner party is invited to explain the offside rule. Within a few seconds he has descended into gibbering incoherence mumbling words and phrases like: "interfering", "defenders" and "played back".

Not only is the offside rule fiendishly complicated (it has only recently become even more so) but it is also fiendishly difficult to enforce. Referees and linesmen are constantly getting it wrong; with all the usual consequences to the blood pressure of all concerned.

Which makes me wonder. Why don't we just scrap the rule altogether? "Because it's there to stop goal-hanging." To which my reply might be what do you mean by goal hanging, is goal hanging really the thing that is meant to be being stopped, how bad is goal hanging and is goal hanging really worse than the situation we have at present?

Let's just imagine for a moment that the offside rule was scrapped. OK, first up Thierry Henry charges upfield. But then Brown, Silvestre and the Nevilles just retreat to cover the threat. The only real difference is that the midfield is opened up making it a more open and attacking game.

That's one possibility. In reality I have no idea what would happen but surely it's worth a try. Which begs the question: how would you try it out? I really can't imagine the Premier League trialling it out for a year - it would take ages for teams to work out how to "play" the new rule creating enormous uncertainty and it would be difficult for teams used to no offside to play in Europe and other competitions where, presumably, the rule would still be enforced.