Goalline technology on ice

Football's lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), have decided to put on ice goalline technology and to stop tests in this area until further notice.

Gleneagles meeting
At its meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, the IFAB considered, among other things, the questions of the human aspect of the game, the universality of the Laws of the Game, as well as the simplicity and efficiency of the technology involved. However, the IFAB has approved a proposal from the world football body, FIFA, to conduct an experiment featuring two additional assistant referees, who will mainly focus on fouls and misconduct in the penalty area. The competition in which this test will be carried out will be decided at a later stage.

Laws custodian
The IFAB, the custodian of the Laws of the Game, is composed of England's Football Association (FA), the Scottish Football Association (SFA), the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the Irish Football Association (IFA) and FIFA. Representing its 204 other members, FIFA has four votes on the body, while the four British associations have one vote apiece. A proposal requires a three-quarter majority (ie six of the eight votes) to be passed. UEFA President Michel Platini attended the meeting in his capacity as a FIFA vice-president.

Simulation debate
The board also discussed a proposal from the SFA regarding the use of video evidence to sanction simulation after a game. Although the suggestion was not approved, a statement by FIFA said the IFAB members agreed that simulation was an act of cheating which must be intensively fought and sanctioned during matches and that all member associations would be encouraged to do so.

Fair Play proposal
Furthermore, a proposal submitted by the FA and called Fair Play Convention, aimed at dealing with injured players while the game is in progress, was acknowledged but not approved, mainly on the grounds that fair play is an instinct behaviour rather than an attitude to rule. As far as the Laws of the Game are concerned, the IFAB approved the following amendments:

Law 1: The Field of Play
In order to standardise the size of the football pitch for senior A international matches, the IFAB has decided to set a fixed size of 105m long and 68m wide (instead of a minimum and maximum length – from 100m to 110m – and a minimum and a maximum width – from 64m to 75m – as mentioned in the present text).

Law 2: The Ball
Within the FIFA quality concept for footballs, the IFAB has agreed that the new FIFA APPROVED, FIFA INSPECTED and International Matchball Standard logos, which were launched in May 2007, will replace the former logos.

Wording simplified
The last major revision of the text of the Laws of the Game was eleven years ago. Since then, many additions and amendments have been made to the Laws themselves, and various publications as well as teaching materials have been produced. As a result, a further revision was overdue. The IFAB has approved the revision which contains no major change in content but simplifies the wording of the Laws.

Technical areas
Also, as it already did last year, the IFAB stressed that people in the technical areas should have no access and view to pitch-side monitors. The 123rd annual general meeting of the IFAB will take place next year in Northern Ireland.