Former Premier League referee David Elleray "has spent 18 months revising the sport's global law-book and bringing it up to date for the first time since the last major re-working in the 1930s," according to Mike Collett of REUTERS.
Elleray "examined incidents from minor infringements at grassroots level to a famous pre-match clash in the Premier League as well as canvassing opinion from the heads of refereeing in each of FIFA's six confederations." He said,
"What we have tried to do is add some common sense, write in clearer language, tell referees to be more sensitive to the spirit of the game they are controlling, and bring all the laws up to date. Most of these changes are really about common sense." Elleray said that "his goal was for fans to understand why referees make decisions, leading to more respect for officials, adding that there were no plans for referees to be fitted with microphones, as they are in rugby." The laws, first drawn up in 1863 when the world's oldest FA was formed in England, "are a dry read and it is doubtful whether many fans or players will have gone through them in detail." Unlike many other sports which have countless laws, "there are only 17 in football, but Elleray had a mammoth task editing them and their interpretations down from 22,000 to 12,000 words" (REUTERS, 1/18).
