Bill Edgar writing in the Times
- Scrap the away goals rule and penalty shoot-outs in two-legged games.
- Use goal difference before head-to-head records.
- Introduce “celebration time” and remove punishments.
- Book players for ANY dissent.
- Scrap the rule that forces injured players to leave the pitch after receiving treatment before re-entering the field.
- If a player falls to the ground and stays down apparently injured for, say, three seconds, the referee should stop the game immediately.
- Players must retreat ten yards at a free kick within five seconds.
- Dismiss goalkeepers for encroachment at a penalty.
- Suspensions for an accumulation of non-bookable fouls conceded.
- Scrap offside.
I’m not sure I could cope with some of his proposals: I think rule 6 would be very hard to manage, rule 8 seems a little over the top, and rule 9 would be impossible. I like the concept of getting rid of offside but does it change football too much?
I do like rule 1 – it always leads to England losing to Germany this would help our country! Rule 3-5 all just make sense – they are ridicolous rules at the moment. Rule 7 would certainly stop arguing – it might need to be a bit longer than 5 seconds but hopefully it would stop the Chelsea and Man Utd’s of this world with their harrassing of referees. What do you think?
