REFS NEED LOVE TOO
An honest perspective from the 3rd team on the pitch... the referees. Through humor, analysis and education, we are slowly changing how people view referees and officials in all sports. We care and have a love for the game as much as any player or coach. Sometimes even more. Youth soccer (proper football) is a multi-billion $ industry in the US. Tremendous money is spent on players, competitions, travel etc., but almost nothing spent on developing the next generation of referees. I hope that this Podcast inspires, educates and humanizes the next generation of referees for their own development and appreciation from the players, coaches and spectators they need to work alongside.
REFS NEED LOVE TOO
Navigating the 2025-2026 Laws of the Game with Leland Grant
Soccer's law book undergoes a mini-revolution with the 2025-2026 Laws of the Game, and referee Leland Grant, National Referee Coach and Umpiro founder, breaks down the four most significant changes poised to transform how matches unfold across all levels of play.
The first major change introduces a powerful new tool for match officials: the captain-only zone. When surrounded by multiple players, referees can now signal for a four-meter exclusion zone where only the designated team captain may approach. This mechanic directly addresses referee harassment, requiring captains to wear proper armbands and take responsibility for communication. Players violating this protected space face yellow cards for dissent, transforming how disputes are managed on the field.
Perhaps most revolutionary is the guidance around the amount of time a goalkeeper may have possesion. The widely ignored six-second rule transforms into a more practical eight-second limit with an innovative visual countdown. Referees now raise their hand showing five fingers when three seconds have elapsed and count down visually until zero, with violations resulting in a corner kick rather than the previous indirect free kick. This balanced approach promises to eliminate goalkeeper time-wasting while providing clear visual cues to everyone on the field.
The drop ball procedure receives welcome clarification, allowing referees to use common sense in awarding possession to teams that would have clearly gained the ball, rather than rigidly following the "last touched" principle. The only exception remains within the penalty area, where drop balls always go to the defending goalkeeper regardless of circumstances.
These changes reflect soccer's commitment to fairness, clarity, and respect while addressing longtime frustrations with inconsistent rule application. While some competitions like MLS will delay implementation until 2026, most leagues worldwide will adopt these changes beginning July 1st.
Ready to understand these changes more deeply? Visit ussoccer.com/lawsofthegamechanges for videos and detailed explanations that will help you prepare for soccer's new era.
Is an opinion platform hosted by Marvin “Truth” Davis. My life and career...
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Hello and welcome to a very special episode of the refs need love to podcast. That's right, guys. This week we are going to be going over all of the brand new 2025, 2026 laws of the game with none other than Leland Grant. This is the first time ever that we've had a guest on the podcast two times. To make it as a repeat guest, you've got to be someone special Leland, as you guys have heard in previous episodes and I've talked about Leland a bunch Leland was a referee, a regional referee, a national referee.
Speaker 1:He is still a Nassau, so he referees in college and is a national referee, coach and beyond, being a phenomenal referee who just came back from the TST tournament in North Carolina. If you've seen that on YouTube or on TV, he is also the creator of the shoes, so again, the referee shoes that I wear and thousands of other referees wear. If you ever see any pictures from regionals right now President's Cup it's like everyone's wearing Ampere's. Now, leland, welcome back, sir. So good to have you here. But before we get into the laws of the game, ampere, let's talk a little bit about that. Why should people be trying out your Ampere shoes?
Speaker 2:man. Thanks, david, it's good to see you again. Pleasure, a very special episode. I wonder if the episodes are special when I'm not on them. I'm sure they are awesome, no comment.
Speaker 2:So the short synopsis of why I made imperos. When I was traveling as a referee to games, it was always trouble for me to know what shoes to bring, so I was always basically having to bring. So I was always basically having to bring a large carry-on roller suitcase with cleats, turfs, a flat. And then back in the day we used to travel in dress shoes, we used to wear a suit on the airplane to travel to professional games. Basically, I didn't want to do that anymore. I wondered why there couldn't be a shoe that worked on all surfaces in all conditions. So I created Umpiro. The secret sauce is this outsole that's a hybrid tread, so it's kind of trail turf kind of cleat, has cleats in different positions, has cleats on the ball of your toe, but it's made of rubber so it flexes with your body and doesn't give you all the problems that we're seeing with cleats over a long period of time, but gives you the same grip. So that's my pitch on Ampiro.
Speaker 1:I love them. When someone tries them out, they're like, oh my gosh, this is actually comfortable to wear and I feel sure on my feet and they flex.
Speaker 1:I haven't put on my cleats in a while since I've gotten the Ampiros, but man, they're so hard and inflexible, if you are a player and you're trying to get some more force that you want to have it be a bit more stiff, but man, it is not fun to be standing in for a full game or multiple games over a weekend, so I am very thankful for my.
Speaker 2:Amperos, you're a key member giving us feedback in our community. I discovered I was wearing a trail shoe before I'm Piro. The problem with the trail shoe is the traction's great. On the bottom it's a very similar outsole. The top looks like a trail shoe. We all know about first impressions as a referee, and walking out there wearing a shoe that looks like you're going on a seven-mile hike, players and coaches would go what's up? Ref Cool shoes? Did you just come back from Utah? I'd either have to find a funny joke or realize that I don't look like a soccer player and you want to look like an athlete because you are an athlete as a referee. So we wanted to support that and that's why we made the leather upper that looks just like a soccer cleat, because it needs to be.
Speaker 1:I sincerely appreciate it, my friend, and it is special having you here, that is for sure.
Speaker 2:I feel like.
Speaker 1:I've become a dear friend and, again, someone that I love supporting as well, and so, guys, definitely head to official sportscom you could fight. Find the Umpiro pros. They're kind of the all blacks. Use my code. Rest need love too. For 10% off, you guys, honestly, yeah, support referees, making stuff for referees.
Speaker 2:Or don't use the code and pay full price.
Speaker 1:Lili would appreciate the full price, but I'm encouraging you to use the code. All right, so we're going to dive into the 2025-2026 laws of the game that officially go in place on July 1st. Some leagues and competitions have already begun to implement the laws of the game and I've mentioned this on the podcast where down in Argentina and Brazil that they already have implemented the laws of the game. The Club World Cup that is going on right now here in America has implemented the new laws of the game. The MLS, which started their season in the spring, will not implement these new laws until next year in the spring. They will not implement these new laws until next year. You'll see it in the Premier League and La Liga and Liga 1 in Europe, and all that starting in August when they start their leagues. But these are the new ones coming. So if you do club soccer, starting in the fall season in August or September, whenever you start, these are the new laws of the game. You need to know about these law changes. I will also one other caveat N-A-F-H-S, n-a-s-o-a, n-c-a-a not necessarily going to be incorporating these new rules. Okay, normally they do it on a calendar year and I have no indication that high school or college will be implementing this for the fall. This is just for your club soccer and other professional leagues aside from MLS here in the US.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to talk about this. If you go to ussoccercom slash lawsofthegamechanges, you will find a presentation with videos and the laws of the game, the key changes summarized on their website. So we are actually going to be going through that today and talking about scenarios. So we are actually going to be going through that today and talking about scenarios, but you can find this presentation that we're referencing, with video examples on USsoccercom's website. Okay, so there's a number of law changes. There's Law 3, law 5, law 8, law 9, law 11, 12, 16.
Speaker 1:We're just going to focus on the four key ones. Some of the law changes are just rather silly. There's one or just like seems unnecessary. But there's one law change specifically about offside, where it adds in the words now the law level. So when the goalkeeper throws the ball, the point of contact should be used for determining an offside position. It's when they release the ball. If they throw it, it's that last point of contact. So there's a clarification on that. I guess they needed to make it explicit.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go into the four big ones. Leland, all right, we're going to start with the captain guideline. Okay, so I'll read the reasoning and then we'll talk about this. I'd love to hear some of your stories, leland, but the only the captain reasoning is. The new guideline is designed to improve on-field behavior. It's an effort by IFAB and FIFA and they're aligned with the US Soccer Respect the Call campaign and our referee abuse policy. They think it's going to enable stronger collaboration between the referee and team captains and instill fairness and mutual respect without seeing our poor referees being mobbed. Leland, you've had many years of referee experience. Have you ever had a situation where you've been mobbed or surrounded by Never.
Speaker 2:I think the law is the law. Change is needed and it goes along with things. I mean, you worked on the new referee abuse policy, so one thing I was going to say that's key that we need to remember is there must be a captain identified and they're going to wear an armband. If the goalkeeper is the captain, then we need identification of another player who will be the one the referee speaks to. Obviously, if the situation is a decision in the other penalty area, we're not going to expect a conversation with the goalkeeper. It doesn't make logistical sense and this is trying to build respect, trust and create football understanding from the referee's perspective to the team. Nobody likes seeing this. Referees don't like dealing with it and it just undermines our game. So I love the new law with only the captain. The signal is there's good descriptions in the presentation as well. I don't know if you wanted to talk about that, but for me, great addition.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about this for a second. The laws of the game don't say you're only allowed to talk to the captains. What they're saying is the captain needs to be clearly identified with an armband, not around someone's ankle. That is important. You'll see people wearing captain's armband on their leg. It's got to be on the arm so that you can easily identify them. Secondly, it doesn't preclude you from having a conversation with anyone on the pitch.
Speaker 1:We are encouraging referees to have good communication skills and, if someone has a genuine question or something of that nature, using your voice and having a conversation with someone. What this is talking about is, when we have a controversial decision or someone's upset about a call, we want to have conversation with the captain, because that's the person identified is going to have dialogue with the referee. If there are multiple players mobbing the referee meaning more than one it can be. It doesn't have to be three or four, but multiple players. What they're encouraging is for the referee to use a signal called the captain signal, where they put their arms up over their head I'm demonstrating this If you'll watch it on YouTube over there cross their arms at their wrist and then straight down in front of them. Okay, and Leland's demonstrating as well. That signal is an indication.
Speaker 1:Anyone who's not the captain needs to get back four meters away from the referee and the captain having the conversation. So that is very new. We've got a new mechanic being added to the laws of the game. When that referee makes that signal, they're sensing they've got multiple players around them. Everyone's supposed to be four meters back. If people do not retreat, it is a yellow card, or I'm curious, what would we write as the yellow card? Would it be unsporting behavior? I don't think they wrote that in here, did they?
Speaker 2:I'm imagining it would be unsporting behavior, although there are some specific instances where it would be dissent Once the zone is established. If the captain zone isn't respected, then it's a yellow card for dissent. I wanted to mention hats off to us soccer. I think this is a great presentation to review. I reviewed it last week and then last night before the podcast just to make sure. But I think there's a lot of great clarity in here. And you're right, it's a new mechanic and it's going to be interesting to see players reactions when they see this for the first time. I don't think they're really going to know, but as referees, that's our job is to educate, keeping players safe and educating them on. Hey guys, this is called only a captain, everybody else go away. We're going to explain and especially at the youth level, I think this is a fantastic addition.
Speaker 1:And I did read. I went forward a couple slides and it does say here that it's for dissent. The bullet points on managing the captain zone. It says captain only zone. It says once the referee signals, all other players must remain four meters from the referee. The captain has some responsibility to encourage their teammates to respect the captain only zone. A player who enters the established captain only zone will be issued a yellow card for descent and if more than one player enters the captain only zone, at least one player must be issued a card. It's recommended to caution either the first or the most aggressive and more than one player may be cautioned if needed. If more than one player enters the captain only zone, referee should include this in their game reports so they want to know if people are doing it Well and something I think the presentation explains it as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, it does On the next slide. If we are in a situation where the goalkeeper is the captain but they nominate their center forward as the go-between, then you have a situation where the goalkeeper is involved and now you're getting yelled at by the center forward and the goalkeeper. I would urge referees to use caution, pun intended, with booking and going no, no, no, yes, because we know the goalkeeper's captain says the other guy's the captain. I'm saying speak to both of them. You should not speak to both of them, but maybe don't be so quick on the card, the goalkeeper is the captain. Again, let's communicate. This is a new law. Be firm, but we also need to use football understanding and understand that we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll do a video on my channel. This is going to be new. I mean, this is very new for referees, it's very new for players, very new for coaches, and I mean, my gosh, I mean this is another one of these things. I think it's a great tool to have in the referee bag, right, if you're a young referee just starting out, or even an adult just starting out, this is a really important thing to have. That will hopefully, you know, enable us to have calm conversation, have dialogue with a captain and, if needed, explain a call. It doesn't mean that every single time there's a controversial decision that you need to stop and have a conversation with the captain, but there are times when it is necessary and prudent to do so. So now you've just got to do all of that you make a good.
Speaker 2:You make a great point, David. This isn't inserted so that referees can start explaining every decision. That's right. Players should not be questioning every single decision. If it persists, it's dissent. We all have seen it happen where you start saying hey, ref, why is that a throw in? Why is that a corner kick? Our job is to educate, but on controversial, big decisions, why is that a penalty? Why is that not offside? We don't need to see this every stoppage of play.
Speaker 1:That's right, awesome. Well, that's the first one, so we've made it through one. There are examples on the US soccer website where you can watch videos showing when it would be a good time to implement the captain scenario Key match decisions, lots of controversy and play is stopped already. It's just a good thing to go through. Next one dropped ball. This is law nine ball in and out of play. And these are some clarification, if you will, for who is going to receive the ball when we do a drop ball restart. So in the last couple years you know we have done away with the contested drop ball. There's no more of hey, we're going to have a drop ball, two players now kick for it Like it's an ice hockey, like puck drop or something like that. Now we drop it from one team.
Speaker 1:So they wanted to make it a little bit fairer. If there was a situation where we're blowing the whistle for a drop ball and it's clear that one team would have had possession, we give it to the team that clearly would have had possession, and I think this common sense officiating. There are times when a ball would have clearly gone to an opponent of the team that last touched the ball. In such, it is fair for the ball to be dropped for the team that would have gained possession, as long as it's clear to the referee, the exception being in the penalty area. In the penalty area, there is only one option for a drop ball. If we stop play with the ball in the penalty area, the drop ball goes to the defending team goalkeeper, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's the only thing that can happen, and I know that that can be controversial, because you could have, let's say, a head injury in the penalty area and the team who's attacking might actually still have possession and may have a chance to score. But if we've got a head injury, we can see it. We're supposed to stop play immediately to address what could be a serious injury, and the restart for that is a drop ball to the goalkeeper. Now let's talk about outside of the penalty area and Leland. Can you think of any scenarios like in your mind where, okay, maybe in the old laws it would have gone to one team, whereas the new laws now I can use common sense and give it to the other team that would have possession? Can you think of a scenario?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. This is just a great thing that I've felt. Teams, coaches, parents, fans never seem to understand why, but we, you know the question is but we had the ball. How is it not our ball anymore and we have a defender that's injured and we have to stop and deal with that injury? And now we can give the ball back to the attacking team outside the penalty area. It's fantastic. I don't know if that's a good example in your opinion, but that's a great time where we can give the I don't know, I think advantage is a bad word, but get possession back to the attacking pass. You take it away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the videos that they provided on the US soccer website was a ball is kicked from the attacking team and the defending team tries to play the ball. And maybe they do play the ball, but they injure themselves in the process. They've injured themselves in the process and the ball is going back towards the attacking team, right, so the attacking team would have gotten possession, but you blew the whistle before they got to the ball. The last team who played it was the defending team, but the team who would have gotten possession was the attacking team. So in that scenario, just give it to the attacking team, even though they weren't the last people to touch the ball or some things. Just give it to the team. It makes sense. It's clearly they would have gained possession and I think that's why they're trying to improve it.
Speaker 1:So they give some scenarios here location of the ball when play was stopped. If it's inside the penalty area, you always drop it to defending team goalkeeper in the penalty area. Okay, and they can pick it up. I get that question a lot. Can I pick it up? Yes, you can pick it up. I dropped you. You can pick it up outside the penalty area and they say clear that a team had or would have gained possession, you drop the ball to the team that would have gained possession in the location of the ball when play was stopped, not when they would have gotten possession up the field. You blow the whistle. It's dropped where play was stopped. If there's no clear possession, you give it to the team that last touched the ball and you drop it at the location when play was stopped. So I think this is just common sense Just gives the referee a little more flexibility.
Speaker 2:It's great. Did the situation I explained work for you, david? You know you have an injury, you've got an attacking team and there are some great. There's some great videos on the, the, what David just said on US soccer, on this presentation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so definitely check it out. All all right now we're getting into the most controversial of the year, and I say most controversial. I think this is actually much needed, but it's going to cause all sorts of consternation because it's such a radical departure. It is the eight second goalkeeper control rule. The six second rule is bs, and it's so funny. I mean, leland, have you ever in your time like given an indirect free kick for a literal six seconds?
Speaker 2:six seconds oh, first of all, literal six seconds, never in my life and I never will um, it was so ridiculous as a law. Yeah, it was just a very difficult law to manage, um, even in MLS. I've seen it called once and I've called it um, not an MLS, I think when I was coming up as a referee.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there. There's certainly times where I have given an indirect free kick for a goalkeeper, hanging onto the ball too long and really trying to waste time. But man, they had probably held the ball 30 seconds. I had probably warned them, you know, two or three times before hey man keeper, you know, speed it up, but never six seconds.
Speaker 1:So thankfully, you know, the people at IFAB are like okay, we got a problem. First off, why are people not implementing it as written and is the punishment too severe? So the laws of the game for 24-25, what we're coming out of right now, it was if the goalkeeper controls the ball for more than six seconds, we award an indirect free kick at the spot of where the infraction is, and that could very well be on the edge of the goal area, six yards from the goal line. It could be right in the middle of the penalty area, six yards from the goal line. It can be right in the middle of the penalty area. It's an amazing attacking opportunity, so referees were reluctant to call it. There weren't a lot of guidelines.
Speaker 1:When does control begin? When do you start a count? And it was a key match decision. So thankfully, we've got new laws of the game now, so let's kind of talk through this. Leland, I think this is going to be massive. How many times a game, leland, right now, do you think a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than eight seconds? Yes, how many times do you think that happens? I know what happens. Well, I think.
Speaker 2:I think we borderline between six and eight seconds. I'm always counting in my head and in the college game we see it where I know this is USSF, obviously so, just in the college game. We see it where I know this is USSF, obviously so, just in the college game. We see it where the benches start counting, which is one of my pet peeves. You said it, it's needed.
Speaker 2:I don't know that this is going to be that difficult to implement, because I think everyone wants it and we want to create a game and we want to referee a game that's enjoying to watch. Soccer is a product and we need fans to support it so that we can continue to support it at all levels. I think this makes it really clear and in the presentation again that we keep recommending people go watch. It's very clear when the count starts and that's something I think that might be a point of contention with referees they say if the keeper's making a difficult save, so they're on, they've outstretched their body, we're going to give them some time to collect themselves. We're not starting to count Now. They're outstretched on the ground, somebody just kicked at the ball, they're balled up around the ball and now we're going one, two in our heads.
Speaker 2:I like the five-second countdown. I know we're going to talk about it later on TST, but when the referee is showing that countdown it lets everybody know. It's similar to showing someone hey, you've committed one foul over here, two fouls over here, no more with persistent offenses. I think it's going to be great. I think obviously there's going to be a bit of adoption time to it and a bit of confusion, with the referee counting 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. But it's a great change, it's a big change.
Speaker 1:It's a big one. The laws have now been amended where they've added this to the laws of the game talking about, the referee will decide when goalkeeper has control of the ball. Per the laws of the game, Eight seconds begin and visually count down the last five seconds with the race hand. So that's the paragraph that has been added into the laws of the game and the explanation given. If a goalkeeper has control of the ball with their hands, arms, for more than eight seconds, the referee will now award a corner kick A corner kick rather than an indirect free kick on the side of the field that's closest to the goalkeeper's position. When penalized, there is no disciplinary action. So this is not a delay of the restart type of situation where you award a caution. You could do that on a goal kick or any other free kick if someone's delaying the restart and that would be a caution. This is not a caution unless the goalkeeper repeatedly commits the offense to delay the game. Unless the goalkeeper repeatedly commits the offense to delay the game. Now, to assist the goalkeeper, the referee will signal the five seconds using a raised hand. So let's talk about this again. I just really want to kind of nail this down. Very important referees out there. You do not get to decide. Okay, I'm only going to start counting when the player's up on their feet and everyone is outside the penalty area, Because I've had people say that, well, they should wait till everyone's outside the penalty area.
Speaker 1:That is not what the laws of the game say or the guidance given about the laws of the game. If it's a routine or simple save, okay, balls hit to them, they collect it with their hands right away. Or you know, in the past we've seen goalkeepers collect it and fall down on their stomach with the ball to try and waste time. No, as soon as they have that ball, okay, that is the countdown starting immediately. If it's a difficult diving save, there's someone standing around them who could kick the ball away as they're getting up, or something like that, or try to challenge them for the ball. You delay the countdown until they have clear control and then you start. It's when they have clear control. You see that Then the count begins. All right, Leland, how are we supposed to count?
Speaker 2:I'll just touch on TST real quick because this was very effective. They're in TST. It's a 7v7 tournament with teams from all over the world. It's super fun and exciting happens in cary, north carolina. This was the fourth, I think, year. I've done it. Every year I've been lucky enough to go and there's a five second rule on kick-ins, which there's no throw-ins there, it's all kick-in, it's indirect kicks and goal kicks.
Speaker 2:If it starts to get persistently delayed or they're taking longer than they really need to, we would hold our hand up in the air and we'd go five, four. Now in the US soccer version. Keep in mind what David just said Save that three seconds starts immediately. Goalkeeper's holding the ball, but there's somebody maybe kicking at it or extremely close by. Yes, the goalkeeper has clear control, but give it maybe one extra second before you start counting to three in your head. After three seconds there's five seconds left. The referee would hold her hand up in the air for five and I would recommend saying five, yell out five. Maybe the first couple times you do it the players aren't going to know. It's our job to be very clear and consistent. That's why I advise everyone listening to this podcast, which, of course, is all 120,000 referees in the country. We can get it consistent right now with everybody. I would advise holding that five second up, say five, and then lower the arm. You're have four, three, two, one and then blow the whistle once. Once you're at one and that finger goes away, blow the whistle. Don't wait another second if they're in the process of kicking it. I would advise probably not waiting another second, um, unless it's the very first time you could, even during the run of play, grab your captain. Hey, just so you know. I'm counting down. They only have eight seconds. Tell your goalkeeper again communicate. And I also love David, you touched on it.
Speaker 2:The restart for violation is a corner kick. It's a cleaner way of restarting the game versus an indirect free kick inside the penalty area where we're counting off 10 yards but there's only eight between the spot of the kick and the goal. It's a mess. It's a mess. So corner kick is really clean and that was the same thing at TST. This has always been a TST rule, so I was surprised at how effective it was. It was extraordinarily effective. When you start counting, their whole team is going go. You better play, you better play. It was effective.
Speaker 2:This is a needed change. If we can all be consistent, it's going to be great and keep the game exciting. There's a great clip where the goalkeeper is trying to get the ball back in play. She is running up and a player impedes. The goalkeeper can't get the ball in play within at the time six seconds and the goalkeeper in this situation should not be punished, right, because that defender is impeding the progress. So we're going to punish that defender and we're going to give an indirect free kick, not punish the goalkeeper here. Goalkeeper's doing their best job to get the ball back in play. They're being impeded. We're going to punish that defender in this situation, which, in the video, is a great example. Torrey Penso does a nice job in this situation, yeah.
Speaker 1:I just want to go over the countdown process, the guidance from US soccer. I think a verbal is a good thing, without a doubt. I think at the youth level we'll probably need to do this for a while just to get people familiar with this. The guidance is once the goalkeeper has clear control, you count three seconds in your head. For the final five seconds, referees will perform a visual countdown. They put their arm over their head with their fingers outstretched, showing five. After showing the five fingers, you're going to lower your arm and then come up with four fingers and then lower your arm and come up with three fingers two, one. Until you get to zero, you immediately blow the whistle for the corner kick. So it's not just putting your arm straight up in the air, because that might be hard to see from 30, 40 yards away. The fingers Okay, you're supposed to arm up, arm down lower than amount of fingers down back up. So it's going to take time. It's again, it's another new mechanic, not what you do every week, and so now it's going to take a while for us to get consistent, but try and encourage everyone out there to use the same mechanic, just like we would for throw-ins. Encourage them to use the correct mechanic when they're counting, so that we could all be consistent out there. And then again, as Leland said, use the correct mechanic when they're counting, so that we could all be consistent out there. And then again, as Leland said, if someone's trying to release the ball in eight seconds and someone impedes them, address it with the person impeding them.
Speaker 1:Either award the indirect free kick or don't do a corner kick. I would say, hey, move away, back away and give them a little more time to release that ball. So don't hold the goalkeeper liable for something the attacking team is doing to prevent the release. Can the corner kick as a result of an eight second violation be taken quickly? Absolutely. Let's say the goalkeeper is guilty of that eight second issue. It's a foul. I guess you would say You've blown the whistle. It's a corner kick If the goalkeeper doesn't release the ball. The attacking team wants to take it quickly and the goalkeeper doesn't release the ball. The attacking team wants to take it quickly and the goalkeeper doesn't release that ball. Should we be giving a yellow card for delay of the restart? You got a goalkeeper who's not releasing the ball for the corner kick to be taken by the attacking team.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yes, absolutely yeah. Just like anything else, like in the old laws of the game. If we called it indirect free kick and that goalkeeper wouldn't release the ball so the restart can be taken, that's a delay of the restart. I'd card them for that. Certainly, as soon as you blow that whistle, they should be dropping the ball. The attacking team could take it to the corner and play it as quick as they want.
Speaker 2:See that where you're absolutely right. I bet we see it. Let's say you call the eight-second rule and you're going no, no, no corner kick got to be over there. It rolls the ball and then I bet we're going to see the goalkeeper run and get within 10 yards of that corner kick. Just the example you just said they're going to have to. So I mean they don't have to, but you're going to have to give a yellow first of all. I think it's. What I mean is it's probably a necessary tactic versus them staying there and let the attacking team have a wide open.
Speaker 1:It's a common scenario now that a goalkeeper is holding onto the ball and you'll have an attacking player standing a few yards away outside the penalty area making sure he's not going to put the ball down and play slowly. You know they're they're. You know waiting to. You know making sure the goalkeeper's restarting play. So if you blow that whistle and the goalkeeper doesn't release that ball for them to play that corner kick as quick as they want, absolutely you've got an opportunity where there might be a yellow card for delaying the restart. You don't need to blow the whistle again for a corner kick to take place. Once you've blown the whistle, you're saying corner kick, attacking team could take that ball to the corner and restart as soon as they want. It's something we're just going to have to look out for. All right, this last one on the new laws again, this is common sense stuff.
Speaker 1:Let's say, on the sideline, on the touchline, however you want to describe, a ball is rolling or going out of bounds and a substitute warming up near the sideline, or a coach, which is more common. You know the ball's almost out of bounds and they just stop it with their foot because they're trying to get their team to play it quickly. They don't mean to stop it before it's gone out. We've seen this. One inch of the ball is still not over the sideline. It would be a yellow card for the coach. You'd caution the coach because they did that.
Speaker 1:Or the sub. Let's say it's in the penalty area and you've got subs warming up behind the goal, okay, and a ball is going out of bounds and someone stops it with their foot right on the goal line, nowhere near the goal, because they saw it was going out of bounds. That could be a. It's a direct, it was a direct free kick offense. Right to do that. You would award a penalty kick if it was done by the defending team, right, lewin, pretty sure on that one this is a great change and it simplifies it.
Speaker 2:There's a great clip on the presentation the sub warming up behind the goal and he ends up with a yellow card. Again, just like you said, it's not too complicated. This is a common sense thing. Same thing with the sub or the coach. Obviously, if the coach is leaving the technical area and persistent and things like that, we can deal with those in other ways. But again, a nice clarification. Clarification, it's a nice addition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just an indirect free kick. If we know it's going out, you don't need to give a caution for it. It's like, hey, don't do that again, please wait for it to be fully out before you touch the ball and we just award an indirect free kick. It's just a, it's a revision, it's a simplifies thing. We don't necessarily need to have a caution, it's common sense refereeing.
Speaker 1:Those are the four biggies for the laws of the game this year. If you have any questions, definitely shoot me a email at refs need love to at gmailcom or you can shoot me an instant message on instagram. Tiktok, whatever. Really appreciate leland for going through it before we finish up our laws thing. I wanted to talk about this tst tournament. It was all over social media, but these are 7v7 games played with a different set of rules and some are very different, such as the target score time, where they they go down from like every couple minutes, from 7v7 to 6v6 to 5v5, all the way, potentially all the way down to 2v2 and 1v1. But can you talk about some of the other rules that were in the competition that you were asked to implement for this as a referee?
Speaker 2:Sure, it's a very cool tournament, like I said, and I'm just happy to be invited. One of the rules that was exciting at TST was the sort of it wasn't offside, but it was their way for managing players not standing in front of the goal in what would be an 11 v 11, an offside position, and in tst they have a penalty area and it's only 12 yards but it's penalty area and basically when the ball was on the attacking team's so still in their defensive half none of their players were allowed to be in the penalty area on the other half of the field. Now at TST it's a two-man system. Essentially there's a referee and then assistant referee aka fourth official. That position is crazy because subs are all on the fly. So you're managing benches it's like hockey coming on the fly. So you're managing benches where players it's like hockey coming on and off or futsal.
Speaker 2:It was very fun to referee because we wouldn't necessarily call it unless a player was camping out. If people are watching the podcast you'd have. Let's say, the ball is five yards into the attacking half. Players are allowed to be in the penalty area on that half. Then the ball would be passed back onto their defensive half. This player is still in the penalty area, but as long as they're making an effort to get out, we're not blowing the whistle. We saw a lot of confusion with that because they wouldn't. Teams wouldn't understand, wait a minute, they're inside. So as a referee you had to balance the no, no, no, they were inside, but the ball was on the attacking half. It was really fun to referee and we would just tell them get out, got to get out, and by day three or four you're just kind of having to pin them visually so that everybody knows oh, the referee's dealing with it all right, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:I just want to clarify so again there was not offside, but you mean that clear?
Speaker 2:well, it's a new thing.
Speaker 1:So again, I'm all about the look there wasn second to last, to put it, but you weren't allowed to be in the penalty area unless the ball was in the attacking half of the field. Right, but you're the attacking team. You could be in the penalty area if the ball was in the attacking half of the field, but if it wasn't in the attacking half of the field, then you had to come out of the penalty area.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they didn't want people camping out. It's kind of offside, but it's 7v7, small-sided. It was interesting to smart the time players remember oh yeah, this from last year, you know, the end of day one, day two running across the top of the penalty area line. So it was a really cool tactic similar to offside Attackers are running across the field to get speed and momentum as that ball is played, they're moving into the penalty area. It was really, and similar to the eight second rule, which is why I'm excited about this law change and addition where it's going to be exciting. It's going to keep the game moving and it's going to visually give the referee this new mechanic signal to show and be clear. I believe it's going to create more consistency because, again at TST, once we're counting fives, four players are having to move and there was no question. When you would call it, I would just point up to my hand and go dude, I counted down from five.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so one of the cool things about TSD is so again you've got this five second for goal kick, for goalkeeper control, for corner kicks, for throw-ins as well. I mean, it just kept the game moving Kick-ins. I think it's what everyone wants Kick-ins, that's right. So there wasn't throw-ins at this tournament. No, if the ball went out of bounds on the touchline, it was a kick-in, which is again similar to futsal. Yes, and I think it's exciting, it's really cool, really cool.
Speaker 2:It's a really fun tournament. Oh, and no slide tackling. I actually called a corner kick but because it was a slide and we had to explain to players, they were. I don't know if it was justifiably frustrated, but I can see where they were justifiably frustrated because they're not used to it.
Speaker 1:They're going. Why is that they didn't 20 years, and then all of a sudden, you do that, right, right.
Speaker 2:For the ball. They got the ball going. Yes, I know that, but you can't slide tackle. That's the only reason it was a tough call to make, because it was a penalty kick. I think on this one the keeper saved soccer. Gods were on my side.
Speaker 1:I know it was a direct free kick offense to slide tackle.
Speaker 2:Therefore yes, correct, yes yeah, so I.
Speaker 1:But you know a lot of guys were not wearing shin guards out there. There was no requirement for no. You've got little ankle socks on out there. So I'm glad we didn't see any studs up slide tackle. But let me tell you, even without slide tackling that was a physical tournament. Oh my gosh. Some of the play and challenges that I saw. It was still very physical out there. It looked wild, to be honest.
Speaker 2:It's fun and there are games that are more wild than others, but yeah, it's fun and there are games that are more wild than others, but yeah, it's a blast. Anyone who's in carry or around that area RDU Raleigh, you know next year I would say go and watch. If you're not refereeing and if you're local and you want to get involved, reach out and I can throw your name at our our signing staff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there were some top level ref, top-level refs at that match. I'm sure you have to be very experienced with doing adult competitive matches, probably college-level matches, just to deal with the emotions, the physicality, the pressure.
Speaker 2:Well, it's all professional. Yes, All the US players are not all, but most of them are professional or former professional. Breck, shea, yeah, guys like that.
Speaker 1:Sergio Aguero, I mean, there were some big names there, man, you got some big that's right and the women, a lot of former us national team players who wound up winning the tournament. I mean it's a big thing and there's a million dollars in prize money. So people get pretty heated.
Speaker 2:There's a million, there's two million dollars because there's now. Yeah, um, I think the first year there was only one million, then the second year they added a men's division or women's division, so now there's. In each way, it's fantastic and the fans are amazing. I think two years ago I got to referee the Siri the Cuomo team from Italy Unbelievable, it was such an exciting game. There were fans, three or four deep around this whole field were smoke bombs going off. It was super exciting.
Speaker 1:I will tell you I started watching a lot more this year because I was watching Leland referee out there. I definitely tuned in a lot more and it was blown away at how exciting it was For all those Laws of the Game purists. They should stop touching the Laws of the Game. Sometimes it's beneficial law changes Real quick because I know we're running out of time here. Like you've got some old law books in front of you, you got some classics that you have from the 80s. I think one is from the late 70s. Are there any laws from 20, 30 years ago just to show how far the laws have changed? Anything you can pull out of there? Oh, sure?
Speaker 2:Well, this is. Did you say the year is 1978? Well, this is. Did you say the year is 1978? There's a lot of differences. I find some of the language kind of funny now. Law 12 is still there, but there's still a lot of similarities. Fouls and misconduct is still kicks, attempts to kick, trips, jumps, charges an opponent from behind unless the latter is obstructing, holds, pushes, handles the ball. There's still things that obviously are the same. 1978 wasn't that long ago. I find it funny where in questionable offenses, a player is guilty of ungentlemanly conduct.
Speaker 1:That's a Ungentlemanly as opposed to unsporting right, because yeah, I guess that's true they use linesmen as opposed to assistant referee to be more inclusive. Can you read the handball? I'm curious what the handball law reads like.
Speaker 2:So it says um, yeah, this is law 12 section. I handles the ball, I strikes or propels the ball with hand or arm. Does not apply to goalkeeper within the penalty area and that is that's it, yeah, so that's really interesting.
Speaker 1:The way they were describing a handball in those terms is if someone sounds like deliberately striking a ball, but it doesn't include any of the other, you know, potential.
Speaker 2:Well, it doesn't say deliberate yeah, but it doesn't include any of the other you know potential.
Speaker 1:it doesn't say deliberate yeah, but it said strike it strikes or propels the ball yeah, I mean, I like the word propel and it just says handles.
Speaker 2:It doesn't say where this hand is that just the hand? Is it the forearm? I know about what it says. Now it's just yeah. I like the one that says this is law 12. Uh, it says if a player leans on the shoulders of another player of his own team in order to head the ball, the referee shall stop, caution the player for ungentlemanly conduct and award an indirect free kick to the opposing side just one more question.
Speaker 1:Under indirect free kicks, do they describe goalkeeper control or challenging the goalkeeper in a different way?
Speaker 1:Oh, gosh, so cause there was a time that you could control the ball and then you could pass it to someone else and they could kick it back to you. There was no deliberate pass back to the goalkeeper laws, and that was one thing that they wanted to change to speed up the game and not make it easy for you to deliberately pass back to the goalkeeper, and they would pick it up with their hands and they would yeah, when did that become?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure when that became I think it's a great example that the laws of the game change. The laws of the game evolve. It's not just referees making stuff up for the benefit of referees. We're changing the game so that it becomes more enjoyable, more watchable, more more fun, more commercial. Yes, I'm saying commercial. We want it to be entertaining and safe for all participants. This is just another example that things change over time and we're doing our best to create laws that can be applied consistently around the world. We're never going to be perfect, that's for sure, and every referee is going to have a somewhat of a different interpretation. That's why these laws of the game that US soccer added, the changes that US soccer put on their website for laws of the game changes, are so valuable. I've never seen this from US soccer before to put together this PowerPoint, to add the videos in, but it really makes it valuable. Leland, did you grab anything there? Any language?
Speaker 2:I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking.
Speaker 1:Well, I will also say too, leland is looking through a book that's got a couple hundred pages in it and that's how the laws used to be. Now, when I look up laws of the game, I've got my you know IFAB app I can go directly to the law that I'm looking for. A lot harder when you have to go through a big book that's a couple hundred pages to look for a certain paragraph of text. So, yeah, it can be a little bit crazy, but it's okay, this is.
Speaker 2:This is interesting and under again. They used to have decisions of ifab, so they would have laws here, and I was reading about the player jumping on someone's shoulders using their own teammate is in decisions of the ipad so, my gosh, you guys can't see it if you're just listening, but he was holding up a book.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it is single spaced like real small font, like size eight or ten font with this old book, like yeah, it would take me less time to read.
Speaker 2:It would take me less time to read harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban. Just some of the language is just so interesting. I can't remember when they took those out. Here is decision of the IFAB 12, law 12. Decision of IFAB seven If a player covers up the ball without touching it, in an endeavor not to have it played by an opponent, he obstructs but does not infringe on law 12, paragraph three, because he's already in possession of the ball and covers it for tactical reasons whilst the ball remains within playing distance. In fact, he's actually playing the ball and does not commit an infringement. In this case, the player may be charged because he is in fact playing the ball that's fascinating.
Speaker 1:So we would say that would be playing in a dangerous manner. Now, in an indirect free kick offense in today's law. That's what I would see. If you're laying on top of the ball preventing someone from playing it and someone can't play it fairly, I would say it's yeah, they're saying that maybe charged.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're. They're saying they may be charged, meaning charging that player like being you can push it. They're kind of you can charge them because they're playing the ball.
Speaker 1:That's right. In the direct free kick offenses it was okay to charge a player in the back if they were obstructing.
Speaker 2:So you could charge through someone's back if they were shielding the ball.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, no, definitely not okay anymore For anyone who thinks you can do that. I can't even tell you how many times I've had to blow like for 6,000 one game, because their coaches taught them to just barge through someone's back when they're shielding.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh my gosh, please, oh here's an interesting this is a good one to close on, at least with this book. Law 12.5, when playing as the goalkeeper takes more. This would be. I believe it's indirect. Yeah, this is indirect free kick offense. Goalkeeper takes more than four steps while holding, bouncing or throwing the ball in the air and catching it again without releasing it. You couldn't take more than four steps. Amazing, that was an indirect free kick offense in 1978.
Speaker 1:Leland, thank you so much for taking this trip down memory lane and also bringing us into the future with the new laws of the game man. So much appreciation for you, sir, for all that you've done. You know, as a national referee coach, all that you've accomplished as a referee, and for those Umpiros. We love them. I love them. So definitely, guys, support Leland, go out there, head to officialsportscom, use the code REFSEEDLOVE2. I would appreciate that. Thank you so much. Need Love 2. I would appreciate that. Thank you so much, and it gives you a little discount as well, and you're supporting Leland. So again, thank you so much, leland. I really appreciate you being on and the first person to ever have two appearances on Wrestling. Need Love 2. Peace out, brother.
Speaker 2:Hey, peace, I was just counting down two seconds to go, keep rest. Two more seconds to release the ball.
Speaker 1:That's right All right, we got to go to a corner. Take care everyone. See ya We'll see you next time.