Tuesday 28th July 2020

Dear Mattias Grafström (FIFA), Dominic Chielens (FIFA) and confederation Futsal representatives,

First of all, I hope you and your families have remained well throughout this frightening and strange time. I am writing to you to highlight the concerns which have been raised about one of the recent law changes to the 2020/21 edition of the FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game. I wish to point out that this letter is not a battle against FIFA and instead an opportunity for us to work together to solve this matter sensibly and professionally, with players and practicalities at the heart of the intent.

Whilst many of the law changes in futsal are welcomed and will indeed improve the sport, one change caught the interest of a broad number across our small but thriving community globally. The law change I am referring to is:
Law 4 – The Players’ equipment  - knee and arm protectors: ‘Where knee and arm protectors are worn, they must be the same colour as the main colour of the shirt sleeve (arm protectors) or the shorts/trousers (knee protectors), and cannot protrude excessively.’

This law change is not one that puts futsal players - goalkeepers in particular - at its heart. It will also affect many outfield players who wear protection when playing on hard surfaces such as concrete. Is this a law to bring the game ‘in line’ with football? If so, it is one that raises many questions within the futsal community. Futsal has a greater reliance upon protective equipment than football due to the hard surface the game is played on; any law changes which follow football need to consider any specifics in the format (futsal) which may not be readily transferable. This particular change to the Laws of the Game seeks to create barriers and problems rather than help and solutions to players and clubs.

Safety concerns

Furthermore, I have had correspondence at league level, with the National Futsal Pathway Competitions in England, that referees will be instructed to ask goalkeepers to remove pads that do not match the main colours of their kit as described in the law change. The health and safety implications of this law are one of the main concerns. Futsal goalkeeper pads are a necessity to help prevent injury from harsh contact with the hard ground. A futsal goalkeeper often performs acrobatic and high impact saves which, if performed without the correct protective equipment, would almost certainly lead to serious injury. I doubt that an outfield player would be asked to play without shin pads. I suspect that this law is one that is directly linked to a law about underlayers, which are normally worn for warmth, not protection. Goalkeeper pads are not a choice like underlayers.

Practical Implications

In addition, good quality futsal goalkeeper protective pads are not easy to acquire – let alone in an array of different colours! At present, there are limited companies that specifically design their pads for futsal use; they mainly produce their pads in two colours: black or white. You may argue that there are other pad alternatives from other sports, but they don’t offer the level of protection needed and often goalkeepers end up succumbing to injury. Yes, companies may respond and start producing many different colours, but at present, the market isn’t ready for this law change and it is going to be incredibly difficult for players to comply, especially the majority who are non-professional. Purchasing pads will be at great cost to goalkeepers or in some cases non-professional teams who already face huge running costs. Some national team goalkeepers will need to purchase up to 5 sets of elbow and knee pads per year due to this law which is an unnecessary extra cost. Non-professional goalkeepers are going to be impacted the most as there aren’t many professional futsal teams or leagues, meaning most players fund their own equipment and often pay to play. In addition to this, the financial capabilities compared to football differ greatly where there are many professional and semi-professional leagues throughout the world. It is worrying that some goalkeepers could be forced to buy substandard pads because they can’t purchase quality ones in the colour of their kit. The effect on outfield players isn’t as great because they don’t require the same levels of protection as a goalkeeper, meaning this law change disproportionately affects goalkeepers.

Liability

Additionally, an area which must be considered is liability. If a goalkeeper is instructed to remove their protective pads due to this law change, who is liable when the goalkeeper suffers serious injury? Would this injury be covered by insurance? Could referees be personally sued due to instructing the goalkeeper to remove vital protective equipment? There are many questions which need discussion. Could a team refuse to play if their goalkeeper is told to remove their protection? This risks the integrity of the game if this were to happen on masse. These law changes are designed by referees often to help referees, but many have fears that this is a rule which will create unnecessary issues for them. Is there evidence that consultation took place on this rule and it was appropriately judged to give a balanced outcome?

Participation numbers

Another issue with this law is that it could affect participation numbers in the sport. If players cannot find the equipment needed, they may become disillusioned and give up leading to them stopping playing futsal. Availability of coloured protection is not a commercially viable imposition on players and a solution for the players of the game is needed. This also creates a barrier for young players who aspire to be goalkeepers in adult teams. This game needs to be inclusive and FIFA should facilitate this for all players.

Conclusion/Solution

·       This law change is incredibly anti-goalkeeper and only serves as another obstacle for many goalkeepers who pay their hard-earned money to play the game they love (there is a greater playing populous of non-professional players).

·       It is potentially damaging for futsal and certainly doesn’t reflect a governing body in touch with the players.

·       Goalkeepers have worn protective pads for years without issue, why is it suddenly a problem that needs fixing?

·        I don’t think that this law has been put in as a deliberate obstacle, but:

o    I don’t believe it has been done with the knowledge of how vital goalkeeper protective equipment is.

o   The knowledge of how difficult it is to source high-quality products.

o   The necessary consultation and evidence-based research to recognise the impact of the law change.

Please consider the practical, cost and serious health and safety implications and consider amending this law. I believe a sensible compromise and solution is this:

Proposed re-wording

Where knee and arm protectors are worn, they must be the same colour as the main colour of the shirt sleeve (arm protectors) or the shorts/trousers (knee protectors), or plain black or white, and cannot protrude excessively.

Support from The Futsal Community

A petition was created to try and demonstrate the feeling of how this law change has been received and support AGAINST the imposition of it (please find the link to the petition here: http://chng.it/7n4FPm9k As I am writing this letter, this petition has received over 2,000 signatures in a short time from 73 different countries and 29 US states. This shows the issue is worldwide and not just in certain countries. I have added a list of significant supporters of this movement. There are many other people within the futsal community who have expressed concern at this law change, including referees and league officials who cannot be added to this list as it would be a compromising position for them. I have also added to the bottom of this letter significant comments which were left by people who signed the petition and the list of countries where signatures came from.

Yours Sincerely,

Philip Codd

(Current Carlisle Futsal Club GK & Assistant First Team Coach)

 

Significant supporters:

Andy Reading (England Futsal GK Coach)

Tim Dittmer (Head of Goalkeeping at English FA)

Tony Elliot (England FA GK Coach across 7 game formats)

Pete Vallance (England Futsal u19/21 coach)

Mark Croft (England Futsal National Team GK)

Joe Payne (England Futsal National Team GK)

Jonny Sim (England Futsal National Team GK) 

Myles Chadwick (England Futsal National GK)

Dylan Malpas (England futsal and B1 National Team GK)

Doug Reed (England Futsal National Team)

Stuart Cook (England Futsal National Team)

Raoni Medina (England Futsal National Team Captain)

Nick Harvey (Strength and Conditioning - various England teams)

Charlie Goodchild (England - lead physio futsal programme)

Leo Higuita (Kazakhstan Futsal National Team GK)

Fabio Alvira Perez (Spain Futsal National Team GK)

Damon Shaw (Head Coach Perak Futsal UEFA A)

Philipp Pless (German Futsal National Team GK)

Pavlos Wiegels (German Futsal National Team GK)

Alice Harkness-Armstrong (Northern Ireland Futsal National Team GK)

Simon Wright (Co-founder CEO Manchester futsal club)

Al Tindall (Head Coach Carlisle Futsal Club)

Andres Moncada (UEFA A licence)

Viktor Jansson (Sweden Futsal National Team GK)

Rui Fernandes (UEFA B Coach Founder of FutsALL.net)

Daniel Berdejo-Del-Fresno (PHD) (Bay Area Futsal Head Coach/Libya Nat’l. Assistant coach)

Dusan Matic (UEFA Instructor Finland/ National team GK coach)

Laurynas Glinskis (Lithuania Futsal National Team GK)

Dario Di (Lithuania Futsal National GK Coach)

Gordon Mcgillivray (Scotland National Team GK Coach)

Dimitirios Zervas (Greece National Team Futsal GK)

Ivo Jukic (Croatia National Team Futsal GK)

Zarko Lutekin (Croatia National Team Futsal GK)

Yamada Marcos (Japan League Head and GK Coach)

Rafeal Kiaysu (Brazil/Santos Futsal GK coach)

Marcus Vinicius Bianchi (Brazil National Team futsal GK coach)

Joao Almeida (Former Qatar Head Coach/Loughborough Head coach)

Driss Dina (Morocco federation)

Joevin Durot (France National Team Futsal GK)

Joao Bendito (Former Portugal National Team Futsal GK)

Manual Kuijk (Holland National Team Futsal GK)

Michel Widruch (Poland National Team Futsal GK)

Karl Zarb (Gibraltar Football association)

Scott Gilligan (Australia, Tahiti & Solman Island - former head coach FIFA instructor – futsal)

Pablo Prieto (Former Libya/UAE League Head Coach)

Tunde Nagy (Hungary National Team Futsal GK)

Clint Mifsud (Malta National Team GK)

 

Significant comments from people who signed the petition:

All comments from the petition are available and attached to the email as a pdf. document.

"FIFA willing to jeopardise the safety of keepers to enforce such a nonsense rule. How do they expect Futsal to grow with such idiotic rules?"

"Unnecessary hurdle for the game's keepers to try and source matching colours."

"This is a ridiculous ruling and one that is putting goalkeepers at severe risk of injury. Pads are expensive and only come in neutral colours. Short sighted approach."

"Safety is more important than the colour of a uniform."

"As a futsal goalkeeper who plays in pink, green, red and orange, I think this rule is ridiculous"

"Stupid rule doesn’t matter what colour safety kit is silly to ask to remove if wrong colour and GK gets injured. Always needs to be safety first."

"There needs to be proper consultation with actual players before these changes are made. The rule to make GKs take off their protective gear if it doesn’t match is ridiculous. Fashion over safety?!?!"

"As a goalkeeper who now has permanent pain to elbows and knees by not having access to the correct padding as a junior resulting in shattered bits of bone, I can’t stress the importance of goalkeepers having the freedom to choose what suits them. I only trust a few brands and they generally only come in black or white. Dying them would look ridiculous.”

"As a futsal keeper, I know from experience that it is extremely hard to find coloured elbow/knee pads other than black or white. So this rule change would be costing keepers more to have them customised or not have them at all which could possibly cause more injury due to no protection."

"This does not seem to look after the best interest, safety and welfare of futsal goalkeepers and is inviting the risk of serious injury over colour"

"What a ridiculous rule putting the colour of gear ahead of the safety of goalkeepers. Many will be forced to purchase substandard gear to conform to colour matching rather than the best quality protective gear. If the rule is upheld, I expect you'll see some club switching team colours to match GK gear.... there will be lots of teams wearing all black or all white causing unexpected headaches. Remove this stupid rule and put safety ahead of fashion on the court!"

"The threat of removal of any Personal Protective Equipment is unethical and against HSE rules in the workplace (I realise this is not the workplace) but will also cause pain and potentially cause people to stop playing the sport they love."

"I am futsal goalkeeper. First thing- not every team and personally goalkeepers (even in NFL level) can afford to buy 3 different colours of protective equipment for matching Home, away and 3rd kit colours. Second- search for goalkeepers’ protective pads in the market and find purple, yellow or even red pads for purchase (bearing in mind quality as well) there is none !!!Third- keep white or black as neutral. End of story. H&S first! Goalkeepers health matters!!!"

"This is absolutely ridiculous. What’s more important? The safety of goalkeepers or matching elbow and knee pads to their kit! These goalkeepers play for fun, playing for their team and to keep fit. Some can’t even afford the kit let alone matching colours of elbow and knee pads. Never heard anything so silly.

"I do not agree with this new law. Soccer goalkeepers wear gloves in various colours. The next law will be to use soccer shoes similar to the equipment?" (Translated from Portuguese)

Not all teams financially support their players, especially in Latin America and Chile, specifically. Not all players have the resources to buy protections, let alone get ones of the team colour." (Translated from Spanish)

Countries where signatures came from (73 countries 29 US States):

Albania

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Belgium

Bosnia

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Croatia

Denmark

Egypt

El Salvador

England

Estonia

Finland

France

Hong Kong (China)

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Ireland

Isle of Man

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jersey

Jordan

Lebanon

Macedonia

Malawi

Malaysia

Malta

Mexico

Morocco

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Northern Ireland

Norway

Panama

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Romania

Saudi Arabia

Scotland

Serbia

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Thailand

Uganda

Ukraine

Uruguay

Wales

Zimbabwe

United States
(Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin)