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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
John Cross

Concussion substitutes could be trialled in FA Cup as long-awaited move is welcomed

Concussion substitutions could be trialled in the FA Cup third round.

Football Association bosses are ready to begin the experiment after law makers IFAB said they are open to allowing an extra permanent substitute.

The FA are welcoming the move and could use it in both the men's competition and women's competition from January as it is expected to be rubber stamped at IFAB's next meeting on December 16.

Football bosses have been under pressure to introduce the move to help assess head injuries and potential concussion amid growing public concern over dementia.

The FA said in a statement: "The Football Association welcomes today’s announcement from the IFAB Football and Technical Advisory Panels [FAP-TAP] in relation to trials of an additional permanent substitution for concussions.

The change may be implemented in the FA Cup and Women's FA Cup in January (PA)

"The FA will support the IFAB FAP-TAP’s proposal at the forthcoming IFAB Annual Business Meeting on 16 December 2020 with a view to implementing the trials at the earliest possible stages of the 2020/21 Emirates FA Cup and Vitality Women’s FA Cup.

"Player welfare is paramount and we believe that this is an important step to help support players, clubs and medical teams when identifying and managing head injuries and incidents of concussion during a game."

However, it has been met with criticism from some quarters as medical experts and also players' union FIFPro have called for temporary substitutes to be allowed to enable players to be assessed rather than a permanent sub.

They believe that will not remove the potential of a player with concussion playing on rather than having an allotted period of time - potentially ten minutes - to be assessed.

IFAB also discussed potential changes to the handball law which has already been tweaked by the Premier League.

They will decide on December 16 whether to bring in a further "clarification" of handball for next season.

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