Football: Controversial rule left off IFAB agenda

The controversial triple punishment, involving player giving away penalty, is sent off and suspended.

BERNE: The controversial ‘triple punishment’, where a player gives away a penalty, is sent off and automatically suspended, has been left off the agenda for the next meeting of football’s rule-making body. The so-called triple punishment is invoked when a defender or goalkeeper denies an opponent a clear-scoring opportunity in the penalty area.  In addition to conceding a penalty, he is automatically sent off and misses at least the next game. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) will, however, discuss proposed changes to the drop-ball and offside rules which soccer’s governing body Fifa hopes will make referees’ decisions more clear-cut and less open to interpretation. IFAB will also review the additional linesmen who have been used by European soccer’s governing body Uefa but shunned by Fifa, when it meets in Edinburgh on March 2.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2013.