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Law Changes from July 2024

RustyRef

Administrator
Staff member
As announced by IFAB today. Think the Law 14 one is sensible as that is the approach currently taken at senior levels.

The next edition of the Laws of the Game, which will come into effect on 1 July 2024, will feature the following changes and clarifications:
  • Law 3 (The Players): Additional permanent concussion substitutions to be a competition option in accordance with the necessary protocol.
  • Law 3 (The Players) and Law 4 (The Players’ Equipment): Each team must have a team captain who wears an identifying armband.
  • Law 4 (The Players’ Equipment): Players are responsible for the size and suitability of their shinguards, which remain a compulsory part of their equipment.
  • Law 12 (Fouls and Misconduct): Handball offences that are not deliberate, and for which penalties are awarded, are to be treated in the same way as other fouls.
  • Law 14 (The Penalty Kick): Part of the ball must touch or overhang the centre of the penalty mark, and encroachment by outfield players will be penalised only if it has an impact.
They've also announced additional trials, but they cannot be used in the top 2 tiers in each country.

Detailed protocols for three trials in domestic competitions below the top two tiers aimed at improving participant behaviour were approved, namely:
  • Only a team’s captain being able to approach the referee in certain situations.
  • The introduction of cooling-off periods to allow the referee to require teams to go to their own penalty area.
  • Increasing the time limit for the goalkeepers holding the ball to eight seconds, otherwise possession will revert to the opposing team.
 
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Yes the law 14 stuff is good. There are some giant penalty spots out there. And penalty encroachment is “expected” and horrible to enforce by the book now.

I note the earlier “deliberate handball in the box” nonsense is nowhere to be found;)
 
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It will be interesting to see what the Law 12 amendment looks like in the final version.
Agree, I don't really understand what it says. "Handball offences that are not deliberate, and for which penalties are awarded", if a handball wasn't deliberate a penalty wouldn't be awarded. They need to get the wording of this very clear or it will just cause more confusion.
 
It is interesting (at least to me) that prior to being put in the Law separately, unnaturally bigger was taught as a kind of deliberate handling.
Yes. And it made sense. Why else a player would make their body unnaturally bigger?

I certainly hope they don't use the words 'same way as other fouls'. A 'foul' is not defined in the lotg (serous foul play is). It is general believe that a foul has to be committed against an opponent (I think this was in law at some point). And all current references to a foul also point to it being against an opponent. So a handball is not really a foul, it's an offense.

On the change to shinguard requirements, I don't think it's been thought through. We are going to end up with coin size shinguards. I believe further changes would come to either make them non-compulsory or go back to the old wording to have both size and material to provide reasonable protection.
 
The current guidelines to temporary dismissals in youth and grassroots football were improved

Any idea what those improvements were? The "detailed protocols" are just the bullet points from Rusty's post. Nothing else.
 
Some really good stuff being trialled and well worth being trialled.

Basically if a game turns toxic, just say you'll only be speaking to the captain.

The referee holding the ball 100% needs confronted. Current law is 6 seconds, but not a ref alive is penalising at 7 seconds, so what is the point of the law. I would love it that on 5 seconds you shout "keeper time" and if they continue to hold for a further 4 seconds, blow the whistle.

That keeper one will 100% need to be covered in pre-match hahaa
 
I would love it that on 5 seconds you shout "keeper time"
I saw on BBC Sport that, supposedly, we will have to count the last 5 seconds visibly for them using our fingers (a bit like the 4 second thing in futsal) and then blow if they don't release. And the restart is apparently going to be either a corner or a throw in to the opposition. Not sure how true it is but it's all anyone has at the moment.
 
The current guidelines to temporary dismissals in youth and grassroots football were improved

Any idea what those improvements were? The "detailed protocols" are just the bullet points from Rusty's post. Nothing else.
Just seen this on BBC Sport (supposedly confirmed by Mark Bullingham) in relation to the sin bin changes:

Firstly, players cannot return to the field of play until the ball is next out of play after their 10 minutes are up, and a sin-bin should count as a yellow card and could get someone sent off.
 
I saw on BBC Sport that, supposedly, we will have to count the last 5 seconds visibly for them using our fingers (a bit like the 4 second thing in futsal) and then blow if they don't release. And the restart is apparently going to be either a corner or a throw in to the opposition. Not sure how true it is but it's all anyone has at the moment.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing if it was fist in the air and count off 5 fingers for 6 six seconds - not unlike futsal. In futsal we do it dozens of times a match, and it gets penalised regularly.

However, is 6, 8 or ten seconds really what football wants? If you do it for goal kicks, those 15 second throw ins and 30 second free kicks are gonna stand out. It’s another slippery slope IMHO.
 
Just seen this on BBC Sport (supposedly confirmed by Mark Bullingham) in relation to the sin bin changes:

Firstly, players cannot return to the field of play until the ball is next out of play after their 10 minutes are up, and a sin-bin should count as a yellow card and could get someone sent off.
I hope this is true. I've had enough of showing a player 17 yellow cards in one match.
 
Amendments relating to shin pads still appear too vague.
The handball clarification is welcomed. In Europe, particularly Spain, they caution every handball for which there is no basis in law.

I am against increasing the keeper release time to 8 seconds. Keepers regularly hold onto the ball for longer than this as it currently stands. There will always be those occasions where all players and referee are making their way up field for the keeper to release long. An increase to the limit and a public countdown then leading to a corner/throw delays the game further.
 
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