Football’s handball law has been under scrutiny from pundits, players and fans alike for some years now. Last year, Sports Shorts assessed the controversy of the new handball law, which has continued to depend on interpretation with little uniformity in its application across world football.… Continue Reading
On Sunday evening, a clash of heads between David Luiz and Raul Jimenez in the Premier League match between Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers gave public attention (again) to the issue around concussion protocols in football. Alan Shearer considers it a matter of “life and death” as he urged the sport to change the rules on … Continue Reading
Refereeing decisions are frequently the subject of debate in the world of football; these decisions generate such interest because they can often be interpreted in different ways. This is one factor, which contributes to the game’s unpredictability. A prime example of this occurred last night. During Manchester United’s last 16 Champions League match against PSG, … Continue Reading
The penalty given in the early stages of the Champions League fixture between Manchester City and Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night has been hailed as amongst the “worst penalty decision[s] ever” by the BBC. Since there was no VAR and the fourth official appeared silent on the issue, the penalty stood and Gabriel Jesus put … Continue Reading
Scoring at a World Cup deserves a celebration and we have been entertained by a range of them throughout the tournament. From Fortnite inspired dances by Lingard and Griezmann to Colombia’s choreographed routine and Batshuayi’s self-inflicting kick in the face. Yet none of these resulted in the same reaction from FIFA as Xhaka and Shaqiri’s … Continue Reading
We’ve seen Eric Cantona kung-fu kick an opposition supporter. We’ve seen Patrice Evra kick a supporter of his own team. Now we can add to the list another Frenchman, only this time it’s not a player but referee Tony Chapron, and it wasn’t a fan he kicked but a player. Football fans are accustomed to … Continue Reading
On 14 February 2017, Sports Shorts discussed the then upcoming AGM of the International Football Association Board (“IFAB”), the body that determines the rules of football. That article focused on the issues that were up for discussion at the AGM, in particular the possible introduction of sin-bins at certain levels of the sport. The AGM … Continue Reading
Pop quiz. Who is in charge of the laws of the game of association football? If you said FIFA, you would be wrong. It is in fact the International Football Association Board (“IFAB”) which determines the rules of the world’s most popular sport and has done since its formation in 1886. FIFA, which was not … Continue Reading
