Penalty points in soccer

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32972, 19 July 1972, Page 32

Penalty points in soccer

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

LONDON.

English soccer players face a new disciplinary code next season in a drive to clean up the game. Every offence for which a player can be cautioned carries a fixed number of penalty points, and once a player accrues 12 points in a season he will receive an automatic two-match suspension.

For instance, two points will be given for deliberate handling, three for shirt pulling and four for dangerous play. The new system, which will come into force when the

season starts on August 12, has been introduced on an experimental basis, and players will have the right to personal hearings and appeals against sentence.

Suspensions will begin 10 days from the date of the match in which the final caution occurred and if incomplete at the end of the season will be carried over to the next.

Players sent off will be suspended for three matches regardless of the number of penalty points they have against their name. At present, referees give details of cautions to the English Football League, and when a player has been reported three times, a disciplinary committee assesses

whether he should be fined or suspended. There is no provision for fines under the new system and suspensions are for a specific number of matches instead of weeks. The points system is as follows: Four points: Deliberate tripping, continued commenting to the referee on decisions, dangerous play, foul tackle from behind. Three points: Deliberate obstruction, persistent infringement of laws, pulling an opponent’s shirts or shorts, encroachment within 10 yards of a free kick. Two points: Deliberate handling, time-wasting, moving arms about to obstruct an opponent, goal-keeper lying on the ball to waste

time, gesticulating in front of a player taking a free-kick, encroachment into the penalty area during a penalty kick, gesticulating by penaltytaker, gesticulating in front of a player taking a throwin, ungentlemanly conduct. One point: Illegal marking of pitch, entering or reentering field without the referee’s permission, using a team-mate’s shoulders to assist in heading the ball. (The secretary of the N.Z. F.A., Mr G. H. Moore, recently put forward a system of penalty points to curb an increase in misbehaviour on New Zealand soccer grounds. It is probable that the association will carefully consider the new English system and proposed one along its lines for the 1973 season).