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LotG Changes - 2017/2018

xPositor

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In double-checking something for the kick to the GK discussion, I went to IFAB and was having a look at their documents. I opened up a document detailing the revisions to the laws for 2017/2018 (here), and got confused with Law 8 - Start and Restart of Play.

Old text: The kicker can stand in the opposite half of the field of play
New text: For every kick-off all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play.

I'm sure the intention is that they want to mean that the player taking the kick-off can stand in either half, but that's not what they have actually written it. To me, the law now reads that the player taking the kick-off MUST be in the other teams' half of the fop. For me, better wording would have been:

For every kick-off all players must be in their own half of the field of play, except the player taking the kick-off who may be in either half.
 
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It's obvious what is meant here and you're right, the kicker can, if he so chooses, stand wholly in the other teams half when kicking off. It doesn't say he must stand there
 
It doesn't say he must stand there
This. The amendment only stipulates where the the other players must be, it does not mandate the location of the kicker, in fact the kicker is specifically excluded from any requirement as to location.

The explanation given by the IFAB when they announced this change is quite clear:
The ‘new’ kick-off (ball played backwards) is popular but often the kicker has to step into the opponents’ half to take the kick; the new wording allows this.
Old text: The kicker can stand in the opposite half of the field of play
You have misquoted (and mis-characterised) this. This is not the old text, and the document doesn't say that it is, this is a statement of the intent of the new wording.
 
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This. The amendment only stipulates where the the other players must be, it does not mandate the location of the kicker, in fact the kicker is specifically excluded from any requirement as to location.

The explanation given by the IFAB when they announced this change is quite clear:


You have misquoted (and mis-characterised) this. This is not the old text, and the document doesn't say that it is, this is a statement of the intent of the new wording.
You're correct. I misinterpreted the document. The old (current) LotG reads:
For every kick-off:
• all players must be in their own half of the field of play
The new law is printed as:
For every kick-off:
• all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play
There is no intention as to the purpose of the law in the actual laws of the game, only the law itself. What I'm saying is that, having reworded the law where the intent is that the player taking the kick-off can be in either half, they have come up with wording that is open to interpretation. As I've said elsewhere, IFAB need to be getting better in their use of the language. Perhaps they need to run changes past a lawyer, to see how they could pull them apart, and then refine them.
• all players must be in their own half of the field of play except the player taking the kick-off who may be in either half.
This would have been explicit, and all for the sake of a few extra words.
 
The first is plenty explicit.

As noted above, it states the required positions for 21 of the 22 players. The 22nd player (the one taking the kick-off) is exempt from the requirement of being in their own half.

That means, that the player taking the kick-off may be in either half.

It's a perfectly good and acceptable use of the English language.
 
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