Changes to the Laws of the Game — What is there to know?

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand over the last few months, you’ll know that the Laws of the Game have been altered by the IFAB (International Football Association Board). 95 changes have been made to be precise. Before the season begins I wanted to remind people on the changes, while also commenting on some things that are likely to be seen increasingly in the game.

DOGSO Offences

The law on DOGSO (denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity) has arguably been changed the most.

Firstly, it must be said that DOGSO offences outside of the penalty area will continue to be treated as they have been in the past. So if you trip your opponent as they head in on goal outside the area, expect to see a red card brandished in your direction.

Things have changed inside the penalty area. The IFAB have sort to eliminate occurrences of triple punishment, that being an award of a penalty, a red card and a suspension. Therefore, if a defender attempts to play the ball when making a challenge but gets it wrong, they will only be cautioned. The IFAB put it that a player must make a ‘genuine attempt’ to play the ball.

It seems that goalkeepers will benefit most from this change. IFAB have indicated that a GK who slides out at the feet of a striker in an attempt to play the ball but takes the player down accidentally should be cautioned. Consequentially, it is likely that a greater number of such challenges will be seen, with goalkeepers no longer having as much risk attached to the challenge. Ultimately, keepers facing the opportunity to at best make a save or at worse take the player out yet still have the chance to save a penalty in the last minute of a fixture that their team is winning 1–0 will probably opt for something that may have been rash in the past.

Fortunately, the IFAB have taken the line that holding, pushing, pulling and handball will be treated as has previously been seen, with red cards being issued. This is argued to be the fairest possible approach.

Something else to keep an eye on with this is that players may now be less inclined to argue with where a foul occurred. Due to the change, it can be seen that the negative of a penalty being awarded is mitigated with the blessing of only receiving a yellow card in some circumstances. Who knows what will happen with such protests though — I can however guarantee that we will see players pulling a player down to then protest that it was inside the area, to which a referee will only award a penalty AND send them off anyway!

Offside

Don’t be surprised to see your referee award an indirect free-kick for an offside in your own half. IFAB have decided that a free-kick for offside will now be taken from the point that the player in the offside position interferes with play. That means a striker who runs back into their own half to play the ball after having been in an offside position (when the ball was played), will be penalised on touching the ball.

If this has been the case in a fixture you are watching, the assistant referee will raise their flag as normal for the first part of the offside signal (straight up in the air in their right hand). They will then immediately drop the flag when the referee blows up. This is instead of indicating whether the offence occurred on the far, middle or near area of the field of play.

This one is bound to see a few raised eyebrows on the terraces. I was at Turf Moor last Friday for the Real Sociedad game when this happened. Those watching clearly hadn’t heard about this change. The approach seems sensible though, due to eliminating the element of doubt for where the free-kick should be taken from. It used to be a bit of a rough estimate but that should no longer be the case.

Treatment of Players

This is one of my favourite changes. Players will no longer need to leave the field of play for ‘quick’ assessment and/or treatment when they have been injured by a foul worthy of a caution or dismissal.

The change means that when a player is given a yellow or red card for a challenge, the ‘victim’ need not leave the field of play after receiving treatment. The change stipulates that treatment and assessment must be ‘quick’. For guidance, referees have been advised that this means roughly the time it takes to caution or dismiss the offending player.

Kicks from the Penalty Mark

There are some changes for penalty shoot-outs as well.

Most interestingly, if a player is sent off during a shoot-out then the opposing team will also be reduced to the same number of players as the offending team. This has been the case for dismissals prior to the start of a shoot-out for a while, with the logic being that a team that has cheated should not have their strongest penalty taker getting to take a second penalty faster than a fairly playing side.

This change sets a consistent approach. I’d argue that it thrives most in the following situation. Suppose a team has taken 10 penalties each. Say that one team has a player that is injured and cannot take a penalty. It is the case that this player would either take a penalty or forfeit and therefore ‘miss’ their penalty. However, on the old law that player could have got themselves sent off meaning the strongest taker could take again against the other sides weakest player. The law change removes this risk, with the strongest taker now against the strongest of the opponent.

Otherwise, the end that penalties are to be taken is to be decided by the flip of a coin (unless there is a reason for a kick not to be taken at one end in the opinion of the referee). Secondly, if a player leaves the field of play during a shoot-out and is not back in time to take their penalty, they forfeit the taking of their penalty and miss by default. No more mid-game toilet breaks then… Thirdly, any player who is off the field of play at the full-time whistle due to injury may now return to take their turn during the shoot-out. Finally, the order of takers is no longer needed to be given but it does remain the case that players may only take a second penalty after all other eligible players have taken their turn.

Backward Kickoffs?!

The ball may now in any direction from kickoff. Fortunately, this seems to have been understood well now so I won’t expand on it.

Other Important Changes

Prior to the changes made by the IFAB, for a foul to have been committed various factors had to be fulfilled. For instance, it used to be the case that the ball had to be in play and the offence must have occurred on the field of play.

Such a list of required factors still exists, but the requirement of the infringement needing to be on the field of play has been removed. Direct free-kicks will now be given on the parallel pitch marking to the offence. Most interesting element of this is highlighted in the following situation: Suppose two players of opposite teams sprawl for the ball inside the area. As a result of this the ball remains in play, while the attacker and defender fall off the field of play behind the goal-line within the edges of the penalty area. In an attempt to get back onto the field to play the ball, the attacker rises to their feet. Before they can get back onto the field, the defender pulls the attacker back to the floor. Previously, no penalty could be awarded. A penalty will now be given.

Another interesting change puts away a myth. For some reason, it is often said that in a confrontation situation, if a player raises their hands above the shoulders it is a red card. Anything below is only a caution. This is not accurate although is was vaguely useful as a general rule. The law has now been altered to state that a red card will be given unless contact in confrontational situations is ‘negligible’. The result is that the media will no longer be able to cry for a red card when a player taps an opponent on the cheek, only for the opponent to roll around on the floor as if they have been shot. Meanwhile others will not be able to call for just a caution when a push is well above the ‘negligible’ threshold. Positive.

The final thing to note is that is a player or team official enters the field of play to tackle an opponent or block the ball from crossing the line such as happened here. A direct free-kick will now be awarded (or a penalty as in the video case study). It used to be the case that a drop-ball would be given, which is often hardly appropriate punishment. This is unless the ball crosses the line anyway, in that case a goal should be awarded. Another slight disclaimer should also be given here. If another outside agent decides to block the ball on the line as in the above, a drop-ball will still be the result. For instance, a spectator blocking the ball would result in only a drop-ball being given.

I do hope that the above provides a good reminder of the changes. If there are any questions, or you see something else occur in the coming season that I haven’t covered, be sure to tweet me at @BPeacockBFC