A new book called Football Rules has been produced by the International Football Association Board who are responsible for the Laws of the Game.
Rules of Association Football was the original name when football first became organised back in 1863 but sometime later, this was changed to Laws.
The idea of this new book is to simplify the Laws of the Game and is not aimed at referees but at coaches/managers and players to help them understand the Laws better, and so stop the too frequent harassment of referees.
Having kindly been sent a pre-release online copy by the IFAB, I feel that some of it will also be useful to referees.
It is a little like the memorandums, sometimes called International Board Decisions, that the IFAB used to send out many years ago, also to clarify parts of the Laws.
I campaigned against this in my early days as a referee because they would come out in one year and if someone started refereeing in subsequent years, they would know nothing about them. I suggested that they include them in the Laws of the Game book, which sometime later they did.
In fact, they went further. The book as issued by the FA was called ‘The Referees’ Chart and Players Guide to the Laws of the Game’ and as well as the International Board Decisions, included advice to referees, players and club secretaries. In the current Laws of the Game, these decisions are merged with the Laws.
This new book came about, we are told, because many people who watch, play, or coach have asked for a simpler version of the Laws with terms and words that are most widely used.
Referees for instance talk about the ‘field of play’ which most people call the ‘pitch.’
Another feature is that while the Laws of the Game is listed by Laws, for example Law 2 is ‘The Ball’ the new book has an alphabetical index. Under S for instance you will find, scoring a goal, semi Automated offside technology, simulation, substitutions, substitutes or team officials on the pitch, swearing.
Most sections have a question-and-answer session. It includes some items which are not covered in the Laws of the Game. and there are also some items which used to be in the Laws but now left out.
If there are any coaches, players, or indeed fans who would like to buy a copy from the IFAB, it will not be available until June and unfortunately, I don’t have the price. The online copy will also be available from that date.
By Dick Sawdon Smith
