This could be a huge change.
Time-wasting is, without doubt, one of the most infuriating dark arts in football, being the source of great schadenfreude for the winning time and pure, concentrated rage for the victims of it.
Despite being a widely accepted act of gamesmanship in the footballing world, authorities have often sought to reduce or end the practice, but have struggled to find a way how.
Now, however, it would seem that the footballing authorities have had a bright spark of an idea, planning to punish timewasters harshly.
The Times reported that the new change has already been trialled in the Under-21 Premier League competition with goalkeepers limited to an eight-second limit, with referees raising their hand upon the five-second mark and counting down to the zero.
The deterrent would be a corner awarded to the opposition team if the goalkeeper exceeds the eight-second limit.
The trial is now set to be extended to Italy’s under-20 league.
Currently, referees can award an indirect free kick if the goalkeeper fails to release the ball fast enough, however, normally the player receives a yellow card and is encouraged to take the kick faster.
Patrick Nelson, the Irish FA’s chief executive and a board member of the International FA Board (Ifab), which is responsible for the laws of the game, told The Times that the data coming out of the trial was “very interesting”.
He said: “The instances of corners being awarded are almost non-existent, which would indicate to us, certainly looking at the data, that the deterrent is exactly what we would want it to be at this point, and it’s speeding up the goalkeepers letting go of the ball and bringing it back into play.”
In the Malta trial, the ball has been held by goalkeepers on 796 occasions and they have never exceeded eight seconds. Under the Italian trial, a throw-in will be awarded instead of a corner but that is seen as less of a deterrent.
“The wrath of any coach for any goalkeeper who’s given away a corner or a throw-in that leads to a goal is always certainly going to mean the goalkeeper is not going to do that twice,” Nelson added. “It’s going to change goalkeeper behaviour.”
