Quote Originally Posted by Loramski View Post
Some good stuff there. Van Basten is behind a lot of this in his role at FIFA and, just as Cruyff brought a lot of coaching ideas from the sport, he's another Dutchman taking some good initiatives from field hockey. The self-pass rule is excellent, it helps the game to flow and stops players from arguing with the ref at every decision as the game moves on instantly. May not be quite as effective in football but definitely worth experimenting with. I've mentioned the rule about penalties on here before, it's ridiculous that a player can have his penalty brilliantly saved by the keeper but tap the rebound in for a goal. How many goes does he want at it? The timekeeping rule has its merits too, that's another idea largely taken from hockey.

Hockey already has video referrals and also has sin bins, rolling subs, shuffles instead of penalty shoot-outs (one on ones with the keeper from 25 yards out) and no offside. Be ready for some, if not all, of these to be suggested soon too.
I'm not sure I agree about the penalties. They are technically special free kicks and just like FKs play begins again once the kick is taken. Maybe they could have a rule that the penalty taker can't touch the ball after a save, like when it rebounds off the woodwork.