The Premier League will use vanishing spray for the upcoming season. The league made the decision after seeing how well it worked at the World Cup, which was considered by many to be the final test of the spray before it was adopted worldwide.
Premier League to use vanishing spray beginning this season
If vanishing spray is good enough for the World Cup, it’s good enough for the Premier League.
Michael Steele
Vanishing spray is used to mark where the ball should be placed on a free kick and where the wall should be. With the referee making a clear mark on the ground using the spray, players have to stay 10 yards back and can’t creep closer than allowed to the ball without it being painfully obvious. After a minute or two, the spray comes off of the grass and it looks as if there was never a mark.
Vanishing spray has been in use throughout the Americas for years. It was common in South America and North America and it worked very effectively. Whereas much of Europe still dealt with walls rarely being 10 yards back, and players continually running forward to block shots, players were generally kept back in the Americas. All the referee had to do was use the spray to make his line and it would be clear to him when a player came to close, earning a yellow card and a re-kick.
FIFA agreed to use the vanishing spray at the World Cup and many figured that if it was a success there, it would be implemented by nearly every league. Unsurprisingly, the spray worked as intended in Brazil and now, the biggest league in the world has decided to use it too.
See More:
