Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League clash with Burnley on Saturday afternoon will be remembered for years to come.
Not only was it the setting for Thomas Frank’s top-flight debut as Tottenham Hotspur manager, the return of a suitably snappy dressed Scott Parker to north London or Richarlison’s first goal with his stronger right foot in 10 months, but Premier League history was made.
For the first time in the 137-year existence of organised league football on English shores, the “eight-second rule” was brought into action.
The game was only three minutes old when Burnley goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka gratefully latched on to a high cross lofted into his box. The former Newcastle United shot-stopper waited for the crowd of players to disperse and casually bounced the ball in his box to assess his options. Yet, before he even had time to punt a long pass forward, referee Michael Oliver had blown his whistle.
Martin Dubravka is the first Premier League goalkeeper to concede a corner after holding on to the ball for over eight seconds! pic.twitter.com/vBq59qBydz
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) August 16, 2025
In accordance with the game’s new laws, any goalkeeper who holds on to the ball for longer than eight seconds will have a corner awarded against their team. Dúbravka had been dilly-dallying for 14 seconds. Tottenham manager Frank warmly applauded the decision which brought a gurgle of jeers from a home crowd which didn’t appear to be universally aware of the new ruling. Clearly, Dúbravka wasn’t quite up to scratch himself.
Nothing came of the resulting corner, but Richarlison ensured that Burnley’s new keeper was fishing the ball out of his net in the 10th minute after applying a crisp finish to Mohammed Kudus’s delivery. Tottenham would go on to comfortably win the game 3–0 as Richarlison completed his brace on the hour-mark, six minutes before Brennan Johnson finished scrawled his name onto the scoresheet.
Liverpool, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Aston Villa’s goalkeepers had managed to avoid triggering the new countdown clock which the division’s referees have been instructed to implement before Dúbravka made this unwanted piece of history. There will no doubt be several more dawdling custodians during the campaign’s first few weeks while everyone gets their heads around this rule change.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tottenham Become First Beneficiaries of Historic Premier League Rule Change.
