They wanted to significantly reduce the size of the book in 16/17 changes and anything redundant was taken out. Not sure if this was taken out then or before.
The mention of the location of the restart was taken out in 2006, the mention of the restart itself was taken out in 2016.
Circumventing being a mandatory caution seems a little harsh.
I don't think it is, if you understand the history of it and how it came about.
The law prohibiting a goalkeeper from using his hands on a deliberate kick from a team mate was introduced in 1992. The scenario that led to it can be found in one of the 1990 FIFA Q&A's which went as follows:
''A goalkeeper kicks the ball to a player of his team. This player passes the ball back to the goalkeeper, who then returns it once more, either to the same player or another. This action is repeated several times. Should this conduct be regarded as time-wasting …?''
While in 1990 the advice was that the referee should be left to make his own mind up (including awarding an indirect free kick if he thought it necessary) by 1992 the problem had become so prevalent and so much time was being wasted that the IFAB decided to outlaw the practice by introducing an amendment saying that a goalkeeper may not touch the ball with the hands if it is deliberately kicked to them by a team mate.
However, players quickly came up with ways to get around the new law (circumvent it). I can remember that period and the main tricks used were to flick the ball up from the ground to the knee or head, or to get down on all fours and knee or head the ball to the keeper. What this amounted to was players basically thumbing their noses at the authorities, showing they didn’t care to go along with the law change and were going to find ways of making a mockery of it.
This happened so quickly that although the amendment to Law 12 had only come into force on July 1 1992, FIFA was forced to take the unprecedented step of changing the lawbook just over 3 weeks after it came into effect by issuing circular no. 488 on July 24 of the same year to address the circumvention problem. The circular stated (in part) as follows:
''Subject to the terms of Law 12, a player may pass the ball to his own goalkeeper using his head or chest or knee, etc. If, however, in the opinion of the referee, a player uses a deliberate trick in order to circumvent the amendment to Law 12, the player will be guilty of unsporting behaviour and will be punished accordingly in terms of Law 12; that is to say, the player will be cautioned and an indirect free-kick will be awarded to the opposing team from the place where the player committed the offense.
Examples of such tricks would include: a player who deliberately flicks the ball with his feet up onto his head in order to head the ball to his goalkeeper; or, a player who kneels down and deliberately pushes the ball to the goalkeeper with his knee, etc.
In such circumstances, it is irrelevant whether the goalkeeper subsequently touches the ball with his hands or not. The offense is committed by the player in attempting to circumvent both the text and the spirit of Law 12, and the referee must only be convinced that this was the player’s motive.''
If FIFA had not acted to prevent this kind of circumvention they might just as well have abandoned the amendment they had only just brought in.
I'm not sure why it wouldn't be considered unsporting behaviour to do something, the sole purpose of which was to avoid the restriction in the laws that had just been adopted.
As for it being somehow skillful, I don't think there's any skill involved in getting down on all fours and nudging the ball back to your keeper with your head (which was one of the more popular methods).
