Why Football Is Banning Towels

[Music]

the long throw can be one of football's

most feared weapons particularly in

England where the memory of stoke's Rory

de lap winding up and arrowing a ball

into the penalty area is still enough to

give Defenders and goalkeepers sleepless

nights but that is about to change or at

least one aspect of it is

typically the Prelude to that long throw

was a toweling off ceremony the player

would dry the ball and their own hands

in order to get maximum grip before

hurling the ball at the Box

but from next season the towels will be

gone the English football league has

imposed a ban and those towels will no

longer be placed strategically around

the grounds or handed out by ball

children

a ball on a towel or any other item

obtained by a member of the crowd will

be prohibited when The League season

restarts on August the 5th in addition

to which a new multi-ball system will be

in place to Speed the game up

the changes were voted through by member

clubs at the efl's annual AGM with the

modified rules set to apply from the

2023-24 season and with the hope of

improving ball in play statistics

the 2022-23 season saw the re-emergence

of the long-running debate across the

four professional leagues in English

football regarding time wasting data

from opta shows the average amount of

the regulation 90 minutes the ball was

in play in 22-23 decreased with each

step of the pyramid for the Premier

League it was 54 minutes 46 seconds of

an average match length of 98 minutes

and 14 seconds meaning the ball was in

play for 55.8 percent on average in the

championship that decreased to 52

minutes and 13 seconds in League 1 50

minutes and 7 seconds and in League two

48 minutes and 2 seconds on average

across the season

ball in playtime should also improve

with the ban on the use of towels and

drying AIDS across the efl although

another logic for the regulation change

is to remove any gray area in the

existing rules which allowed for some

teams to use towels before a throw-in

While others did not typically a home

team would have that Advantage whereas

an away side in an unfamiliar stadium

was less likely to interestingly the

rule change included taking items from

the crowd to dry the ball as happened

when West brom's Darnell Furlong used a

sweatshirt from a member of the crowd in

August 2021 against Peterborough United

much to the frustration of the home

crowd and manager Darren Ferguson

among those to favor the use of a towel

before a long throw last season were

Sheffield Wednesday Barnsley and Newport

County who scored the most goals

directly from long throws in the three

efl divisions according to Optus data in

the National League wrexham's bentoza

was a threat from the long throw but

will have to return to drawing his ball

on his shirt rather than a town next

season following promotion to League two

in the championship millwall used Xian

Fleming's long throw to help them push

for the playoffs the Dutch forward made

waves in his first season in England for

what he did with his feet but his long

throw gave Gary rout's side an extra

attacking weapon

newport's Mickey Dimitri was the main

threat from throw-ins last season in

League two with three assists in the

space of three games in April as Graham

coolen's side finished 15th in the

league second highest among the teams to

score in the phase of play immediately

after a throw in was Northampton Town

promoted in third place last season with

Mitch Pinnock opting to dry the ball on

his shirt much like the long throws of

Warsaw who recorded four goals in the

aftermath of a long throw

Rory de lap very much the final boss of

long throw takers historically

alternated between using a towel at home

and his shirt when playing away during a

cult status creating period of long

throw assists between 2008 and 2012.

delapsed 267 long throws in 2008 9 made

up 21 of all long throws taken in the

Premier League this season as he

recorded five throw-in assists in total

and throw-ins are an underused

opportunity for creation from set pieces

with data showing that in the 2021

Premier League season 6.7 throw-ins per

game were in the attacking third

providing a chance to get the ball into

the box in a different way to Corners

which in contrast are not as effective

methods of chance creation as fans

expect since 2010 only three percent of

Corners taken in Europe's top five

leagues have resulted in a goal which is

why the likes of Liverpool and Brentford

have worked with throw-in specialists in

recent Seasons some teams have even

responded to Growing expertise in that

area with their own counter strategies

for instance barnsley's Tom Edwards

complained that Bolton Wanderers put his

team's towels in a puddle ahead of their

first round FA Cup match in November

2022 preventing him from properly drying

the ball

but either way it's history now

throw-ins will continue to be a potent

offensive weapon but no longer with the

accompanying towels and thankfully also

with the time that was being wasted

partially reclaimed

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