Lahore, 26 September : “Penalty-takers at Pakistan Premier Football League will not be able to feint as they are about to kick the ball after a change in rules. The decisions concerning the Laws of the Game was taken by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) came into effect on 1 June 2010,”this is stated by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat. The 29 matches of the PPFL produced 73 goals so far and six of them had come through penalty-kicks. All of them converted well within Laws.
IFAB, football’s rule-making body, convened at the Home of FIFA in Zurich for the 124th Annual General Meeting, which, asis the case with every FIFA World Cup year, was chaired by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.
Also FIFA and World Cup Disciplinary Committee member, Faisal said the decision followeda growing trend in Brazil. In the move known as the Paradinha (Little Stop), players stop as they are about to take the penalty, send the goalkeeper the wrong way with a dummy and cheekily chip the ball into the empty part of the goal.
“We saw some video examples, which make it clear it’s very unsporting when the player gets to the end of a run up, feints to kick completely over the ball, the goalkeeper goes in one direction, the player pulls his foot back, and kicks the ball in the other direction,” he told. “It’s clearly unsporting.”
The practice also came to prominence with an ugly incident during the semi-final of 27th African Cup of Nations Cup at Angola’s Complexo da Sr. da Graça, Benguela on 28 January 2010. Algeria goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi, enraged when Egypt’s Hosni Abd Rabou feinted before stroking his spot kick into the net, chased the referee Coffi Codjia (Benin), grabbed him from behind and head-butted him before being dragged away by team mates.
“We have to make sure the referees, players and coaches understand what it is about and will use videoas an example for the players to see where we are coming from. Players who feint as they are about to take the kick will be shown a yellow card. However, feinting during the run-up will be allowed,” he added.
The new wording of Law 14 now reads: “Feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponentsis permitted, however, feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is now considered an infringement of Law 14 and an act of unsporting behavior for which the player must be cautioned.”
The role of the IFAB is to discuss and decide upon proposed alterations to the Laws of the Game. FIFA and the UK-based associations (English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish FAs) can propose matters to be discussed and ratified at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), which usually takes place in February or March.