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Well, since the Irish FA (FAI) was formed in 1921, I am guessing that the centenary mentioned on the shirt (1916 - 2016) must actually refer to a non football occasion. I am guessing it's a reference to the 1916 Easter Rising, which would make this a political statement and against FIFA rules?

Let's sum up the varied arguments here: 1 The "Just bad luck the keeper dropped it" argument. Absolutely correct if he had hit the ball against the ground, the post, a team mate or the referee and then dropped it. But it was against an opponent. 2 The "but there was no challenge and a...

Not totally accurate. The actual history is far more complex, and in my opinion, much more flattering to Sheffield. In the early 1800's there were large numbers of different areas playing some form of Football, each using their own rules (The major public schools in the forefront). Students...

I think the simple reason is that a team may have dozens of goal kicks in a game. Even then, ones that don't leave the area are rarely seen. But free kicks to a defending team in their own PA are a great deal rarer, and so players almost never see this Law in action.

er....yeah....them too...

And still further not quite :) It is about BOTH the ball and team mates. First question is whether he (or she) is nearer the goal line than the ball at the moment it is touched or played by a teammate. If not, then there is no question of offside at all. If the player is nearer than the...

Actually the reason why flags are compulsory and nets are not is historical rather than technical. When the Laws were first written in 1863 the mention of the pitch said "the length and breadth shall be marked off with flags". Notice, no touchlines then, merely flags. When painted lines were...

Of course, the Laws state that clearly. But the "back-pass" Law says nothing about stopping the keeper controlling the ball, they just can't touch it with their hands.

No here's where we carry out the Laws as written. The "backpass" Law clearly says "hands", so why on earth include arms at all? The Law was brought in to stop timewasting (ie a goalkeeper picking up the ball from a team mate and holding on to it ) so forbidding hands only makes sense. Let's...

Once a keeper is outside the penalty area he becomes merely a player...so unless you consider every handball by any player outside the box a straight red....then no. Enough players DO seem to think ANY handball must be at least a yellow: so much so that IFAB had to make it clear that only if it...

Our leagues here in Western Australia deal with the problem simply and bluntly: "... each team will provide a club assistant referee to assist the match referee. If either club does not comply, then the match may not proceed." In seven years of refereeing here, I have...

"If there is any divergence in the wording, the English text is authoritative." From introductory Notes on the Laws of the Game.

We had this exact problem raised at one of our refereeing seminars. The guy in charge was asked what he would do if the head of the referees' committee was standing on the touchline and informed him of an act of VC which he had missed. He said he would politely tell him that he was not part of...

In our association we are told that about 30 seconds can be allowed before we insist they still go off...

Absolutely. A red card for OFFINABUS, then restart with a DFK to the team of the player you just sent off.

I think where a lot of the confusion arises is that the laws have been crafted over the last twenty odd years to remove any attempts to read a player's mind and to judge only by outcomes. Hence in fouls we merely have to decide if the outcome was careless, reckless or excessive force, no need...

Fully agree with you that this is an actual change, not a mere clarification. Just to be exact though, it does not fly in the face of two provisions....only one. If throwing the ball is not considered a handling offence, that is the only real change. The provision that a goalkeeper cannot be...

Actually do check your Law book, as it appears you may be conflating two different versions of this Law. In the 2016 - 17 original rewrite, the penalty for a player interfering was to deny the goal and instead have a corner kick or goal kick. In 2017 - 18 this was updated to be a direct free...

We are expressly told we can hold the whistle on a player who enters without permission until either the ball goes out of play, or they interfere with play. We then caution them for entering without permission. If they interfered however, and this interference was by an act of Dissent, the...

We should also point out here another loophole closed by new Laws. There was once a problem if a player temporarily off the field for an injury, ran on without getting the referee's permission and booted the ball away as it rolled towards an empty net. The problem? Well the only actual...