Liverpool And The Ball Boy

[grumpy01]

Great though it is for English club football could somebody tell me when the rule was changed.The rule in question is that the match ball should be used throughout the game unless it loses pressure or some such not thrown in by a ball bot as happened here.

[fiction-factory]

I'm not sure of the rule (law?) if any on this, but it's not unusual for more than one ball to be used. But I think the ball boy's role here has been overstated. The main reason Barcelona were caught out was that they lost concentration when the corner taker pretended he was leaving the taking of the corner to someone else then dashed back and took it

[Buenchico]

From Law 2:
"Additional balls which meet the requirements of Law 2 may be placed around the field of play and their use is under the referee’s control"
http://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/lawsandrules/laws/football-11-11/law-2---the-ball

I can't see any change in the Law since the days when I was refereeing football (when teams had dinosaurs and pterodactyls for mascots). In local matches in Sheffield parks, where it could take ages to chase after a ball which had run down a steep slope, I remember checking the condition of several balls before each match in order that play could quickly resume while someone trudged down the hill. I also remember helping the ref check several balls before a match at Hillsborough, where I was running a line, so that any ball which disappeared into a stand could quickly be substituted.

As long as the ref is happy with the condition of a replacement ball (having checked it prior to the game or having delegated the task to an assistant referee), I can't see why their should be any problem with replacing it during any stoppage in play.

[Stephen_G]

Teams have done similar things if they've been losing, but if they start winning then they lose the multiball system, and it takes the opposition longer to retrieve the ball to take a throw in. Teams have also done it with Towels, if they have a long-throw specialist. A ballperson keeps a Towel for the home player, but it mysteriously disappears when an away player wants it.

There's nothing in the rules (The way they are) against it.

[campbellking]

Standard practice in European club competitions to use multiple balls.

[johnk]

If my team Runcorn Linnetts could only use one ball the match would take an extra hour!