Great new football laws that will still be bent

Referees and players have new laws to learn. for the 2019-20 season.

Any attempt to speed up play, stop blatant time-wasting, make the handball law easier to follow/interpret/understand should be applauded, although there is also no doubt footballers and managers will come up with ways to cheat their way around them.

It’s what they do. For example the advice to stop play immediately if there’s the possibility of a head injury was well-intentioned, but also hi-jacked on occasion by cynical players who knew holding their head after a challenge would always stop a promising breakway attack by opponents.

There's a new law governing substitutions this season.

The defending team would then claim to be great sports by returning the ball 70 yards away from where it was when play was stopped.

Well this should now stop as the ball will be dropped to the team in possession where it was when play was stopped.

Of course momentum will still have been lost, but at least it’s a start.

The main law changes can be seen in the link above and I like them as they tackle some of the most irritating parts of a sport that long ago abandoned any interest in fair play.

When managers brag about ‘game management’ what they usually mean is finding a way to take time off the clock in the most boring ways. I remember a recent Posh boss gloating he’d told a player about to be substituted in the latter stages of the game to walk to the furthest point from the technical area and then come off the pitch as slowly as possible just to eat up some precious seconds as though it made him sound like Guardiola when the reality was it had been happening for years.

Well that avenue to delay the game has now been closed by ordering players to leave the pitch at the nearest point, although I have no doubt that players will either a) act dumb or, most likely b) stand in the centre circle when they know their number is coming up before stopping to applaud all four corners of the ground, removing their shin pads and then pulling their socks up.

There will of course be teething problems - I’ve refereed games this summer when some of my decisions have caused even greater confusion than normal - and the public are unlikely to be helped by the natural stupidity, ego and laziness of football’s huge band of ignorant pundits.

They of course won’t bother learning the new laws because in their heads they believe they know everything already.

Dreadful Danny Murphy & co have been known to criticise officials for applying the law just because it’s a law he doesn’t agree with and sadly he’s not alone.

Throw in the impact of VAR in the Premier League and punditry could hit a new low this season.

Unbelievable I know, but unfortunately true.