Football Lawmakers Weighing Up Big Rule Change To Combat Time-Wasting

Football lawmakers are looking to combat the issue of time-wasting in football and two ideas have been generated.

One which the International FA Board (Ifab) are discussing is to completely ban substitutions in stoppage time, given that managers often make changes in injury time in attempt to kill a bit of time and see the game out.

As per the BBC, the other proposal to be put forward to a panel next month is for players to vacate the field of play at the nearest boundary line. Currently, those being withdrawn leave via the technical area and can waste a whole lot of time in the process.

Time-wasting has been part of the game for as long as we can remember, but it reached a new low a few weeks back during the dire game between Cardiff City and Burnley.

The two sides played out a less than enjoyable game live on Sky Sports at 4pm, with fewer than 450,000 viewers tuning in to see Burnley win 2-1.

Remarkably, the ball was in play for just 42 minutes 2 seconds, which is the shortest amount of time since Stoke and Aston Villa conjured up only 40 minutes and 50 seconds of actual action on the pitch back in their December 2013 clash.

Of the 90 minutes plus injury time at the Cardiff City team, 48 minutes was lost - with a good chunk of the delays and stoppages coming from Cardiff skipper Sean Morrison taking 20 throw ins and wasting a total of eight minutes.