Football lawmakers considering new rules to stop time wasting

Football lawmakers are looking into plans to tackle time wasting in the game

A report by The Times claims the International FA Board (Ifab) are considering banning substitutions in injury time as part of a clamp-down on time-wasting tactics. They are also said to be planning on introducing a rule which would see any substituted player leaving the field via the nearest touchline, instead of walking across the pitch to the technical areas. The report claims Ifab's advisory panels will discuss their proposals next month, ahead of their annual meeting which takes place in March. "Looking at ways to cut down on time-wasting, speed up the game and increase playing time is one of our priorities," one of the board members is quoted as saying. "A rule to say there should be no substitutions during added-on time is an interesting one and could work well. Referees add on 30 seconds for a substitution but in practice it can eat up a lot more time than that. There would, however, need to be trials to see if there are any unforeseen ramifications. "Would it be fair, for example, if a player suffered a broken leg in injury time and couldn’t be replaced? But you already have the case where they couldn’t be replaced anyway if the three substitutes had already been used." The Times' report also says that Ifab is looking at allowing goal kicks to be passed to players within their own penalty area to allow quick play, and for referees not to insist that a ball is still for some free kicks. The average time a ball is in play during a Premier League game currently stands at 55 minutes and nine seconds. However, the recent game between Cardiff City and Burnley saw it in play for just 42 minutes and two seconds - a new record.