Referees to have final word

By Andrew Warshaw

One of the longest established rules of football is that the referee's decision is final. But what if an incident occurs on the pitch after he has blown the final whistle?

New rule
Until now, the man in the middle has been powerless to act once he has officially ended the game. The law states that as soon as the referee has terminated the match, he cannot change a decision.

Extended authority
But the law is about to change. From next season, the referee will have the authority to impose red and yellow cards right up until the moment he actually leaves the pitch. The rule is specifically designed to put to an end to the arguing, swearing, pushing and shoving that has increasingly infiltrated the game.

Ten match ban
The English Football Association has already advised clubs that they risk being fined in future whenever their players abuse referees. Only this week, Southampton FC's David Prutton was banned for ten matches for manhandling the referee when sent off during last weekend's fixture against Arsenal FC.

Landmark ruling
Prutton's act of folly occurred during the 90 minutes but all too often it is at the end of matches, when players assume they cannot be sanctioned, that they let off steam. As a result, a landmark ruling has now been made by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the game's rule-making body, to extend the power of officials, allowing them to produce post-match cards instead of just reporting the incident. "It's an important rule change," said Jim Boyce, head of the Irish Football Association. "Hopefully, it will stop the kind of shenanigans we have seen all too often at the end of matches."

Two metre retreat
Another significant innovation was a new rule to stop players encroaching at throw-ins. The proposal was put forward by the Scottish Football Association and is designed to stop the thrower from being impeded by an opponent. It is a practice all too commonly seen at matches throughout Europe. From next season, players will have to retreat at least two metres whenever their opponents have a throw-in, or risk being booked.

Peru experiment
The topic which dominated last week's IFAB meeting, however, was the debate around an experimental introduction of a new microchipped ball to improve goalline technology. The microchips will be used for the first time at the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru.

Dangerous tackles
And in another move to clean up the game, football's law-makers have taken further steps to outlaw foul play. Until now, only dangerous tackles from behind constituted "serious foul play" but that will be extended from this summer to include dangerous challenges from the side and the front as well.

Helping officials
"Anything that can help the referee manage what can sometimes be explosive situations and make interpretation of the law more clear to the watching public can only be a good thing," said English Football Association (FA) chief executive Brian Barwick.

Dissent rule ousted
Not every innovation stands the test of time, however. The IFAB has decided players will no longer be penalised for showing dissent towards referees by having free-kicks moved forward ten metres. The punitive measure, copied from rugby union, has been in use in English football for four years but has now been consigned to the scrapheap.

'Lone voice'
FA executive director David Davies could not hide his disappointment, viewing the decision as a backward step. "We have been a lone voice on this but apparently the rule is not understood by non-rugby playing parts of the world," he said.