Penalty points up

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 17

Penalty points up

Players in the national and regional soccer competitions will be penalised more heavily for misconduct in the approaching season. The penalty points system will be run on similar lines to the scheme introduced last season, but with important alterations. The new proposal put forward by the New Zealand Footbll Association’s council at the association’s annual meeting in Wellington last week-end, gained very strong support. AU penalties for receiving

cautions have been doubled. For example, a player cautioned for deliberate tripping, dangerous play, or committing a foul tackle from behind will receive seven penalty points, instead of four. When a player reaches 20 penalty points, he will be liable to face a suspension of up to four matches, one more than last season. An innovation, and one which must be welcomed, is : that any club which has a team whose players accumu- < late 40 penalty points shall ]

be warned by its association. When it reaches 60 points, the club will be fined $5O; a further 20 points, and the fine will be doubled. If the total of penalty points reaches 120, a $4OO fine will be imposed. A possible guideline for the success of this plan would be that if a national league club had one player cautioned in every second match, it would probably accumulate about 50 points over the 22-match competition.