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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
A ground-breaking decision that allows for the return of substitutes at the lower levels of football was endorsed on Saturday by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) while the use of a fourth substitute was referred back to the advisory panel.The decision was taken during the 129th annual general meeting of the highest decision making body in football rules which was chaired by the Irish Football Association President Jim Shaw.

“The IFAB made a ground-breaking decision to allow for return substitutions in the lowest levels of football. It follows the success of two separate pilot programmes run by the Football Association and the Scottish Football Association, the results of which demonstrated substantial increases in participation levels across the game,” said a statement released by Fifa soon after the end of the meeting on Saturday.

The changes will come into effect on June 1 this year.

It was agreed that the proposal for a fourth substitution in extra time, which was on the agenda, should be assessed by the advisory panel before any further discussion by the IFAB.

The Fifa statement also said on the so-called “triple punishment” (Law 12) of sending off, penalty and suspension for the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity within the penalty area, the IFAB agreed that the punishment is too harsh and that a solution must be found. The proposal, which was put forward by Uefa, including a provision that detailed specific instances where a referee should issue a caution instead of a red card, was rejected.

After much debate, the IFAB agreed in principle that one element of the triple punishment may be removed and that this element should be the automatic one-match suspension.

The IFAB tasked Fifa and its disciplinary and legal committees to investigate the feasibility of administering on a global level the removal of the automatic one-match suspension for offences relating to the denial of an obvious goal-scoring possibility that are not considered serious infringements.

Subject to the outcome of that analysis, Fifa will submit a proposal for potential changes to the Fifa disciplinary code to the Fifa executive committee in March for a decision.