5) Six Second Rule
A rule change in 2000, just before the Euros, saw the six-second rule being introduced which would allow goalkeepers to hold on to the ball for a maximum of six seconds before releasing it. It was an initiative to stop time-wasting in football.
There were several instances of goalkeepers holding the ball for too long, as one is described by Jonathan Wilson as he writes in The Outsider:
"A general rethink about the laws of the game had been promoted by the negativity of the 1990 World Cup and, in particular, one passage of play in the group match between the Republic of Ireland and Egypt in which the Irish keeper Packie Bonner held the ball for almost six minutes without releasing it."
The positive rule change came as a boon for football, with that technique of time wasting lessened in the modern game. However, in a Europa League clash against Bordeaux this season, Liverpool goalkeeper held the ball for 22 seconds for which he conceded a goal as a result of the indirect free kick awarded to Bordeaux.
Modification of rules for the betterment of the game has always been welcomed in football. The Goal Line Technology used during the FIFA World Cup in 2014 was a success and so were numerous other rules in the past, notably the revolutionary offside rule. Rule changes have always been part and parcel of the game and will continue to be.
