2022 Rule Changes

Updated 12-Apr-2022.

There have been some significant  rule changes for the 2022  season.  You can find the current (2022) full field laws of the game here.

A summary of the changes is available here.  The offical page for the changes is here and includes a presentation with videos that helps explain.

It seems the main changes of interest to us are around hand balls.   In particular, around when an accidental hand ball is considered a foul. Various things that might have been considered a hand-ball last year no longer are!  But, if an attacker scores “immediately” after an accidental handball – it is always a foul (no goal).  In the latter case “immediately” does depend a bit on the ref and what actually happens. It does depend a lot on the view the ref gets.  For players, as always, keep your hands a close to your body as practical and you have less chance of issues.   

Minor changes to other rules, e.g. “offside”: the lower part of the arm is no longer considered.   Also – If you try to use a “trick” to send the ball back to the keeper in breach of the rules, then you could get a yellow card.