FA Release Revised Laws of the Game

After much consultation, trials of the proposed changes and discussions about the best way forward for walking football, the FA have finally released their revised Laws of the Game. For the majority of the Laws there is little or no change but there are some notable changes:

Law 4. The Law regarding players equipment has been relaxed to allow plain wedding bands to be covered and not removed. - Already in place within the Essex Walking Football League.

Law 12/14. Sanction for Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity (DOGSO). Previous sanction was a red card, which was deemed as not a sufficient deterrent to deliberate fouls or running, and in addition could add undue strain on the remaining players. The change to this Law sees a red card replaced by a blue card and a penalty to the opposition. - Already in place within the Essex Walking Football League although a red card can be awarded depending on the severity of the DOGSO.

Law 18. The previous sanction for not walking was on an individual basis, with a blue card on the third not walking offence. Following the trial events, it was shown that the biggest deterrent to not walking would be to change from an individual count, to a team count in which each team will be penalised with the award of a penalty to the opposition on the fourth occasion of not walking. This count will then reset and continue for the remainder of the game. - Essex Walking Football League will not be implementing this in the current season.

For teams playing in the Essex Walking Football Leagues, the revised Laws for 2024 will be discussed by the League committee before the 2025 season.

The full text of the revised FA Walking Football Laws of the Game can be found in the LAWS section of the website.