The English refereeing organization PGMOL is testing a revolutionary new rule to prevent goalkeepers from playing for time. In the U21 Premier League, there will now be a corner kick if the goalkeeper holds onto the ball for more than eight seconds.
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- The English Referees' Association is testing a new rule in the U21 Premier League to prevent goalkeepers from playing for time.
- If the goalkeeper holds the ball for longer than eight seconds, a corner is awarded to the opposing team.
- This rule change is intended to prevent the often unpunished infringement of the rules and the resulting, disproportionate, indirect free kick in the five-meter area.
In the football talk show "Stick to Football" on the TV channel "Sky", English referee boss Howard Webb surprises viewers with a possible rule change, which is currently already in the test phase. Earlier in the interview, Manchester United legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane had complained about goalkeepers wasting time.
"Most of the time-wasting occurs with the goalkeepers. They hold the ball much longer than the six seconds they're allowed to hold it. Sometimes nine, ten, eleven, thirteen seconds. So they waste six, seven seconds every time and don't get penalized for it," Neville is annoyed.
Keane is also annoyed, saying: "I count every time. Only at the end of the game do they sometimes get a yellow card." The problem: if the referee penalizes the goalkeeper for time-wasting, a dangerous indirect free kick is awarded inside the penalty area. A disproportionate penalty, which is why the rule is practically never applied.
Corner kick instead of indirect free kick
The English Referees' Association has now come up with a possible solution to this problem, which is already being tested in the U21 Premier League. "If the goalkeeper holds the ball in his hand for eight seconds, it's a corner kick for the opposing team," reveals Webb.
"As soon as he holds the ball for three seconds, the referee starts counting down. If the goalie is stupid enough to hold the ball anyway, then it's a corner for the opposing team. This also avoids this ridiculous indirect free kick in the five-metre area," says the head of the English refereeing organization PGMOL.
An idea that could work. All the experts around the table agree. However, Webb does not yet reveal when the rule could be applied in the Premier League.
