Boro v Bristol City - The use of towels!

[QuaverRef]

In typical Tony Pulis style, Middlesbrough have adopted a long throw tactic which include all the ball boys who hand towels to the players taking the throw .... Everyone but the opposition. Quote from Lee Johnson (Bristol City Manager)

"The ball boys with their towels. They have the towels but they don't give you the towels. They dry the ball but they don't give them to you.
"And I don't blame them for that by the way. I'd do exactly the same.
"But it's up to the referee to manage that and on too many occasions today the referee didn't manage the game well enough."

During the first half, the fourth official stepping in and removed all towels from the ball boys.
Where would you stand on this? Is there any official ruling?

 

[alexgr]

I don't think there's anything that explicitly stops it in law but I guess it could come under Law 2 (The Ball). Ref doesn't know if the ball boys are "tampering" with it etc.

 

[GraemeS]

I think I remember that when Delap was doing this, the ruling was handed down that the home team had the choice of providing towels or not, but if they did, they had to be provided to both teams. If the ball boys are refusing to give the towels to the away team, I think the 4th official made a good call.

 

[QuaverRef]

I think I remember that when Delap was doing this, the ruling was handed down that the home team had the choice of providing towels or not, but if they did, they had to be provided to both teams. If the ball boys are refusing to give the towels to the away team, I think the 4th official made a good call.

After this happened with Stoke they actually changed a section of their shirts to match the material of a towel. Nothing wrong with that in terms of the LOTG as it still matched the club colours!

 

[JamesL]

I

After this happened with Stoke they actually changed a section of their shirts to match the material of a towel. Nothing wrong with that in terms of the LOTG as it still matched the club colours!

If I remember rightly a towel was sewn into the inside of the kit

 

[bloovee]

Ah, Pulis or Pep - the future of English football.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

I think I remember that when Delap was doing this, the ruling was handed down that the home team had the choice of providing towels or not, but if they did, they had to be provided to both teams. If the ball boys are refusing to give the towels to the away team, I think the 4th official made a good call.

I agree. The ball boys are intended to provide a neutral service to facilitate the match. Towels aren't part of their job - and it's patently unfair for them to supply the home team with towels and not the away team, given that the away team obviously aren't able to supply their own crew of ball boys (for pragmatic reasons - not to mention the home ground would have no reason to permit them inside the fence!). So it's not the case of 'one team thought of it and the other didn't' - it's an advantage that the home team can have and the away team can't. And that's not right.