Tuesday 9 August 2016 05:39, UK
With the season underway in both the EFL Sky Bet Football League and Scotland, Dermot Gallagher is back to explain how the new rule changes in the game were implemented this weekend.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced in May more than 95 alterations to the laws of the game last season after 18 months of consultation, with many of those changes trialled at Euro 2016.
Gallagher, a former Premier League referee, has been clarifying some of the more important of those alterations by using examples from both last season and the past few days' action to demonstrate what has changed…
Referees have been urged to take a stronger stand on "intolerable behaviour" by players following a joint statement by the Premier League, English Football League and FA.
Running to contest decisions, arguing face-to-face with officials, and "visibly disrespectful" actions will result in yellow cards.
Red cards will be issued to players who confront officials and use insulting and/or offensive language or gestures towards them.
The aim is to "reduce disrespectful conduct such as aggressively challenging decisions or running from distance to confront an official".
GALLAGHER SAYS: What has happened in the past is that referees have set the tolerance levels too high and it is not a good image for the sport that is going all around the world.
So we have asked people to tighten up on acts of visual dissent that everybody can see. When you see a player confront an assistant after he makes a decision, and they go head-to-head with him, it is intolerable and not a good image for the game.
So now they are saying it has got to stop and something has to be done, as it has become a step too far.
We saw one yesterday, the season has only just started, when a free kick was given and QPR defender Jake Bidwell has confronted the referee visibly. And in fairness to referees, the clubs have been told and the referee acted accordingly.
So hopefully, it might happen in the first few weeks of the season, but we will see it stop.
Last season, Jamie Vardy got a second yellow card for simulation [at home to West Ham United in the Premier League], he did not leave the field of play and it was quite blatant what he said to [referee] John Moss.
And I come back to what I said before, it is all about the image of the game. It is not just what we see in England, it is viewed in 178 countries around the world and people do not want to see it.
[Chelsea's home game with Spurs last season] really highlighted it and if you were to pick any game from last season - and I do not want to pick on one club - but for Mark Clattenburg, that was one of the toughest games I've ever seen in the Premier League.
He had numerous challenges to his authority both within the game itself and players reacting to him too. And it was not just the players, we had cases where [Mauricio] Pochettino was on the pitch, so it is the bench too. And that really was the catalyst to say it has gone too far.
The previous 'triple-punishment' law meant a player who denied a goal-scoring opportunity in the box was automatically red-carded and handed a suspension, as well as giving away a penalty.
The law has now been changed so players committing accidental fouls that deny goal-scoring opportunities in the penalty area will not be automatically sent off, with a yellow card sufficient punishment.
As the amendment states: "When a denial of a goalscoring opportunity offence is committed by a defender in the penalty area, the penalty kick effectively restores the goalscoring opportunity so the punishment for the player should be less strong (e.g. a yellow card) than when the offence is committed outside the penalty area. However, when the offence is handball or clearly not a genuine attempt to play or challenge for the ball, the player will be sent off."
GALLAGHER SAYS: The referee has to decide if the player has made a genuine attempt to go for the ball - if he decides he has, then it is only a yellow card.
Let's not forget that the referee can still send a player off in the penalty area. The example being if I pushed you over in the box, there is no way that I can prove I was genuinely going for the ball and it would still be a red card.
But if the goalkeeper comes out and the referee decides he has made a genuine attempt to go for the ball, that would be a yellow card. But if a goalkeeper comes out and goes absolutely straight through a player, with no intention of playing the ball, it will still be a red card. But only if it is in the penalty area.
It was too severe, especially for goalkeepers, who were very vulnerable in that situation. You make a genuine attempt to go for the ball, the forward gets there slightly early and nicks the ball away, it is a penalty, a red card, a one-match suspension and it is too harsh.
So what they have decided now is he has not denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, he has merely delayed it as a penalty is as good as a goalscoring opportunity.
In an effort to stop referees brandishing yellow cards for every handball, "preventing an opponent gaining possession" has been removed from the list of bookable offences.
Handball is now a yellow card offence when "it stops/interferes with a promising attack".
GALLAGHER SAYS: The key issue here is, has the player stopped a promising attack, or is it just a handball? And what you will see now is that not every handball will be a yellow card.
I think this season, it will be the referee's choice as this is where you cannot be descriptive. The referee has to decide if [Mikel] Arteta has deliberately stopped the ball going through to a player behind him, or has he just tried to gain possession of the ball?
In that case, I think he has just tried to gain possession and a free kick would have just been sufficient.
If a player is fouled and hurt by an opponent who subsequently receives a yellow or red card for the challenge, the injured player may be quickly treated on the pitch without the need to leave the field of play.
It was widely seen as unfair that a player injured by a serious foul was forced off the pitch for treatment, temporarily placing the fouled team at a numerical disadvantage.
GALLAGHER SAYS: We are playing catch-up from 1994 after the World Cup when it was actually used as a tactic so that when a player was fouled, he asked for treatment and what it did was stop the momentum of the game.
I think this is a great example of how it is will be better, because last year Kieran Tierney would had to have gone off and they [Celtic] would had to play ten against 11, which never sat right with me anyhow.
What is interesting is that you would have thought the clubs were aware of this. Kieran was set to go off, he is obviously called back by somebody, not only can he stay on, but it has then triggered [Hearts manager] Robbie Neilson to question why.
And the referee has had to go across and say: 'Look, this has changed and because he had a yellow card he can stay on the field of play'.
So at least that incident yesterday on the opening day of the season will have given everybody the education for the rest of the season.
Referees will be able to give a player a red card before the match kicks off. This allows officials to punish red-card offences (e.g. violent conduct) in the warm-up or as the two teams line up in the tunnel. The new law states a player may be sent off any time between the pre-match inspection and when the referee leaves the field at the end of the game.
GALLAGHER SAYS: The fact you have had to go back 11 years just shows it is not epidemic, it is very, very rare and hopefully it will be another 11 years before we see another case like this.
It is there for the referee to have as a back-up in case it does happen, but it is like an insurance policy that you never want to claim and the referee never wants to invoke that.
As seen at Euro 2016, the ball no longer has to go forward at kick-off. The previous law stated the ball had to go into the opposition half at the restart, but it has been changed to allow it to move in any direction, as long as it "clearly moves". This change has paved the way for one-man kick-offs, as seen at Euro 2016.
GALLAGHER SAYS: I just think that it is a rule that has moved along with the times that when you see it happen, it has become of no benefit. Now you only have one player out of position.
I think what will be interesting is when you have a player stood over the ball, if the other player suddenly thinks, when the referee blows his whistle, to run from about 10 yards and smashes it straight into the goal expecting it to go back and the goal is given!
I think that will be a great tactic if somebody did that by surprise!
