Summary of the 1998 Changes to the Laws of the Game

At the 1l2th annual meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), held in Paris, there were several amendments made to The Laws of the Game and the accompanying decisions. The IFAB seldom makes significant changes to the Laws in World Cup years, and 1998 held true to form. There was some 'tidying up,' as the British say, but no changes of real consequence occurred. On May 6th FIFA issued Circular No. 644 in which they outlined the main amendments. A summary of these changes follows, with some discussion of the new International Board Decision (IBD) to Law 12 concerning the 'tackle from behind.'

Facts Connected With Play (Law 5)

A new Decision (IBD 3) has been added; it reads:
"Facts connected with play shall include whether a goal is scored or not and the result of the match."
This means that such decisions by the referee may not be protested. This is a clarification of the Law rather than a change.

Restarting Play After Cautioning or Sending Off a Player (Law 12)

The offenses for which an indirect free kick is awarded has a new bulleted item added which reads:
"Commits any other offence, not previously mentioned in Law 12, for which play is stopped to caution or dismiss a player."
How to restart when play is stopped to deal solely with misconduct was inadvertently omitted from the 1997 rewrite of the Laws. This new item reiterates that the restart is an indirect free kick whether the misconduct results in a caution or a sending off. Referees are reminded that if a foul is called in addition to the misconduct the restart is determined by the foul.

Sending Off Offenses (Law 12)

This amendment simply replaces the words 'an opponent' with the words 'the opposing team' in the 4th sending off offense. The revised text follows:
"4. denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area)."

Time Wasting by the Goalkeeper (Law 12)

The following sentence was added to IBD 3:
"The goalkeeper is considered to be guilty of time-wasting if he holds the ball in his hands or arms for more than 5-6 seconds."
This was issued as a Mandatory Instruction in 1997, and is now included in the Laws as an IBD.

Tackle From Behind (Law 12)

The 'change' that has received the most attention, both in the press and on the Internet, is really not a change at all, but instead an insistence that referees enforce the existing Law, and send off (red card) those players guilty of serious foul play. This insistence came in the form of a new International Board Decision (IBD 5) to Law 12, which reads:
"A tackle from behind which endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play."
The FIFA Circular publishing this decision added:
"The above mentioned decision means that the player guilty of such an offence has to be sent off in accordance with Law 12."
The United States Soccer Federation has provided guidance to assist referees in determining whether or not a red card is warranted in such instances. At its 1998 National Referee Certification / Recertification and Professional League Referee Training Clinic, USSF addressed the 'Definitive Send Off.' Referees were told that they must:
"Punish culprits who commit fouls which are deemed unacceptable as identified and instructed by the Federation."
What is considered "unacceptable"? The USSF has defined unacceptability as those fouls that are too severe for a yellow card, and for which certain criteria exist, as follows: A video being prepared for the training of the 1998 World Cup referees shows situations for which a red card is mandatory, and others for which a yellow card is sufficient. (The AYSO National Referee Program has stated that "Children who are under 12 years of age, often playing short sided games, should not be cautioned or sent off except under extreme conditions. Referees should consider whether children in this age group are fully aware of their actions, and that they can usually be controlled by a verbal admonishment before a caution or sending off becomes necessary.")

Penalty Kick (Law 14)

In the third paragraph of the Infringements/Sanctions section of this Law a new bulleted point has been added (this regards the encroachment of a teammate of the player taking a penalty kick). It reads:
"If the ball rebounds from the goalkeeper, the crossbar or the goalpost and is touched by this player, the referee stops play and restarts the match with an indirect free kick to the defending team."

Kicks From the Penalty Mark - Position of the Non-Defending Goalkeeper

The bold text is the revision:
"The goalkeeper who is the team mate of the kicker must remain on the field of play, outside the penalty area in which the kicks are being taken, on the goal line where it meets the penalty area boundary line."

Injured Players

Although not included in the Laws, the IFAB instructed that an injured player, after the referee has given permission, may reenter the field: The Board also reiterated that if an injured player is able to walk off the field of play, he should be encouraged to do so, especially if close to a boundary line, and in such cases it is not necessary to use a stretcher (as was done in the 1994 World Cup).

Bill Mason, FIFA Law Interpreter for
American Youth Soccer Organization
June 1998