throw in protocol

I was at an EFL game yesterday (1st time since the law changes) and the new 5 second countdown law for throw ins was not used once.

I counted to over 20 seconds on at least 8 occasions.

How exactly is this new protocol supposed to be enforced?

The 5 second countdown is only supposed to start once the R decides the TI is taking too long—like when in the past we would have hurried up the thrower and started thinking of a DR caution. So we shouldn’t really expect to see it too often.

From what i saw yesterday, epsecially as the game was drawing to a close, one team was taking longer and longer.

Sometimes it took a player over 20 seconds to get to the sideline to prepare for the throw.

Kent Ref said:

From what i saw yesterday, epsecially as the game was drawing to a close, one team was taking longer and longer.

Sometimes it took a player over 20 seconds to get to the sideline to prepare for the throw.

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That's the key point, to get to the sideline. Referees are only expected to start the countdown once a player is deemed to be taking too long. I watch a lot of football and as far as I can see they are applying it correctly, but this does include an element of common sense. Classic example being for long throws, they are giving the attacking team time to get their defenders forward but it is still vastly faster than last season. Although granted 20 seconds is a long time and I'd expect at least a bit of encouragement from the referee to hurry up.

And that is the purpose of the law change, previously even basic throw-ins were taking over a minute on some occasions, there's no way that is happening now. From being at games, the biggest problem with this law change is fans don't understand it, I've seen some around me start counting out loud as soon as the ball goes out and that was never the intention.