Warm neck snoods get the cold shoulder -- and watch out for vanishing spray

Speaking of referees and the Laws of the Game, players like Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri are going to have to find another way to keep their necks warm following a decision to ban snoods from July 1.

A growing number of players have been sporting the latest fashion accessory but the International Football Association Board believes they pose a safety risk if they are grabbed when are running at speed.


Carlos Tevez wll have to find another way to keep his neck snug


The thick neck-warmers became increasingly popular during Britain’s cold winter but had already been outlawed by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
IFAB has also sanctioned the continuation of an experiment using “vanishing spray” in South America.

The spray is used to mark out the 10 yards the defensive wall should be from the ball at free kicks. The referee paces out the distance and marks a white line with the spray, which the wall can’t step over. The line then disappears within a minute.
It was invented sports journalist Pablo Silva, who felt hard done by when a referee allowed encroachment on a free kick he was taking at the end of an amateur game in Argentina.

FIFA has also decided to introduce five match officials for each game at the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine next year. The two extra officials will be behind the goal-line but on the side of the goal next to the assistant referee.

There will also be another year of testing to find a successful goal-line technology system, despite 10 such systems failing tests recently.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted that England’s disallowed goal, struck by Frank Lampard, in last year's World Cup against Germany was "an immense error" and said he would welcome the use of goal-line technology at the 2014 tournament in Brazil if a suitable system can be found.