Five Premier League football rules you may not have known about

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The rules of football can be complex, at the best of times, and there’s some that you probably didn’t even know about!

A Tweet by BT Sports this morning got me thinking – what are some of the most daft rules in the beautiful game? To kick us off…

5. It’s illegal for a player to be in the VAR operating room, and a he’ll be shown a red card if he breaks the rule, even though its site is 13 miles from the closest Premier League stadium.

They’ve made that one for Andy Robbo, surely?

4. Passing a penalty is within the laws of the game. Remember when Robert Pires teed up the ball from the spot for Thierry Henry, but they fluffed it up? Aye – contrary to popular belief, there’s nothing wrong with that.

https://twitter.com/FootyFIashbacks/status/699280420312113152

3. It’s incredibly hard to do a throw-in wrong. The rule is very simple in the professional game; hand the ball with two hands, behind your head, and throw it into play.

In the amateur game, it’s a bit different. You’d be hard-pressed to watch a Sunday league game and not hear someone shout “foul throw, ref!” at least once just because it didn’t look right. This does not translate into the pro’s game.

2. The six-second rule for goalkeepers is subjective. The clock starts ticking as soon as the player is in control of the ball and able to disperse it.

That’s really up to the referee, but context is a big thing. You often see match officials getting a bit more card-happy if a winning team is in the latter stages of a match and the ‘keeper has the ball.

1. If any object thrown onto the pitch interferes with play then a drop ball should be awarded.

Cast your mind back to 2009, Reds. Remember when a beach ball scored for Sunderland and left Pepe Reina looking a little daft? Yeah – that goal should not have stood.

But it did, and the Black Cats ran out 1-0 winners. Farcical.

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