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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Walker

New substitute rule slaughtered as IFAB lawmakers accused of 'not knowing football'

The president of the Polish FA has slammed the IFAB decision to introduce five subs to games and insists the rule change was made by people who don't watch football.

Football's lawmakers have agreed a temporary measure to allow five subs during the coronavirus crisis and it was a move backed by the SFA.

Scottish clubs will be able to make five changes if the Premiership and Scottish Cup are completed before the end of this year which has been approved by the game's lawmakers, the International Football Association Board - which is made up of the four British associations and FIFA.

Each side will have only three opportunities to make subs and SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell supported the idea when it was first proposed last month.

But former Poland manager and Juventus legend Boniek has launched an astonishing outburst against the plans and is adamant they won't be used in Polish football.

He said: "It's a silly decision without any grounds. We will not introduce this in Poland.

"This is a populist movement caused by outside pressure from people who probably do not know what a football match looks like.

"It's absurd to say that more changes can be justified because there are more frequent matches.

"In the 1982 World Cup in Spain which took place in less than a month, I played in seven matches, which took place every three days in the searing heat of the sun.

"And we were only allowed to make two subs back then.

"Let's remember that football is better prepared and more efficient now and this decision will make it less important."

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