Less time wasting, more football: The League Administration's demand to the Referees Association
At the board of directors meeting, it was clarified that one of the main goals for the upcoming season is to significantly increase net playing time. The Administration is also considering placing balls along the sidelines to reduce delays.
The League Administration requested yesterday, Sunday, from the Referees Association:
"Do everything to improve the amount of net minutes played in Premier League and National League matches."
At the League Administration board meeting held yesterday, Referees Association CEO Liran Waxberger and Professional Committee Chairman Ziv Adler appeared. For a long time, the two presented the expected changes for the upcoming season, while club heads who arrived at the board or participated via Zoom, such as Alona Barkat, asked questions and made suggestions.
Bottom line, the Administration heads asked the Referees Association representatives that in the upcoming season there will be a significant improvement in the amount of net playing time.
The Administration is even considering placing balls on special carriers next to the sidelines on the pitches, so that when a player comes to take a throw-in, they will not have to rely only on ball boys. According to the idea, 15 match balls will be placed on the sides of the pitch at distances of about 15 meters from each other and will be at the players' disposal.
It is very important to the Administration heads to promote the issue and increase effective playing time. Last season, no improvement was recorded, even though it was one of the Referees Association's goals. A year ago, the Association held a press conference and declared that net playing time in the Premier League is too low compared to what happens in Europe.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it was precisely in matches between the big clubs that the lowest amount of net playing time was recorded. Despite the Referees Association's desire to improve the figure already last season, almost no change occurred.
Now, with the new rules that were also seen at the World Cup and are supposed to increase effective playing time, the Administration requested to sharpen the issue ahead of the season opening.
