They just can't help themselves when a World Cup comes along
Just what we want, more officials putting their oar in to ruin a good game of footy.
These announcements were made at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), chaired by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The IFAB have decided to grant further powers to the fourth official whose job in the main has been over seeing subsitutions, off-pitch incidents, telling us how many minutes of stoppage time is left, and keeping Neil Warnock quiet.
Now, they'll be able to assist the referee with issues arising on the pitch, though the main ref will still make the final decision.
'Off you go Macca, the 4th official saw that sly kick along with the West Stand'
The IFAB also agreed to extend the Europa Liga experiment of having four assistant referees on the pitch as a replacement for goal line technology.
Football leagues across the world will now be able to try out the idea over the next two seasons before any decision on whether it is made compulsory are made.
As for 'feints' before penalties are taken, or 'Paradinha', as it's known in downtown South America, where it seems they are quite good at it!
A growing number of players are using these so-called feints to deceive the opposition after a spot kick has been given by halting just before kicking the ball, throwing a dummy is still OK as long as the kicker goes through with the shot.
The Bastards, if the Hand of God wasn't bad enough.
Well, those crafty Argentinians, or Brazillians, or whoever fancies trying this on will receive a yellow card for "unsporting behavior". Players may also be forced to retake the penalty if the ball goes into the net.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke told a press conference held at the organizations headquarters in Switzerland: "Feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted, however feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is now considered an infringement."
The ammendment to the penalty rule was implemented on June 1, just 10 days before the start of the World Cup. But Valcke insisted this was enough time.
So we should see the usual high card count which we seem to get at every tournament before things settle down.
As for the League for the new season starting in August, we'll have to see how English fourth officials take this to heart, or just let the main man in black get on with it as they've always done.