Football lawmakers are set to discuss changes to the rules surrounding the video assistant referee (VAR) and set pieces that would impact Premier League clubs.
Aston Villa and every other football team in the world are governed by the Laws of the Game, which are overseen and updated by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
Every year, the IFAB – which is made up of four FIFA representatives and the national football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – considers several possible changes to the rules of the game.
IFAB’s technical folks met this week to discuss a specific form of time wasting. With the illusion that football is or ever was a real 90-minute match, giving the impression that wasting time is the greatest scourge, attempts to speed things up without the introduction of the patently unworkable match clock are mostly welcome.
Time wasting pieces
BBC Sports journalist Dale Johnson reports wasting time on dead balls was one of the topics discussed Tuesday.
“The increase in long throws in the Premier League this season has led to additional delays, with teams essentially having to get into position for set pieces rather than a quick restart,” Johnson wrote.
According to The eighth timethe average delay on throw-ins in the Premier League has risen this season from less than 9 seconds in 2024/25 to over 11 seconds, although last season’s average was lower than previous years.
“Goalkeepers are also taking extra time for goal kicks, increasingly towards the end of the match as a time-wasting measure.”
IFAB is apparently exploring the idea of a count-out similar to the newly introduced eight-second rule applied to goalkeepers holding the ball in their hands in open play.
To our knowledge, there has been no discussion about goalkeepers feigning injury to slow down play and give their teams supposedly impromptu tactical drinks breaks.
VAR violation must be avoided
The IFAB football and technical committees have tabled a proposal to have VAR review potentially ‘unfairly awarded’ corners that lead to a goal, an idea so utterly stupid that even the football world didn’t believe it.
But the game’s lawmakers are moving ahead with a new VAR proposal that could have a huge impact on Villa and the Premier League in the coming seasons.
“[The] change to the VAR protocol… would allow postponement if a second yellow card is wrong,” reports BBC Sports. “It will not be possible to assess the potential [and not given] second yellow cards due to the large number of potential incidents and delays.”
The logic here is clear. No one wants to see players wrongly sent off, whether it’s a straight red card or two yellow cards, but it’s another example of VAR overreach that will have unintended consequences.
Too much VAR is just one of them. Codifying the substantive difference between a first yellow card and a second yellow card is another.
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