GOALKEEPERS at the FIFA Women’s World Cup have been treated like “guinea pigs”, Chelsea Women Football Club manager Emma Hayes has said.
She said this against the backdrop of the new rules on penalty kicks and their strict implementation thanks to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
New rules brought in from June 1 by football’s law-making body IFAB mean that goalkeepers must have one foot at least partly on the line when a penalty is taken.
The rules also state that the goalkeepers, when the penalty kick is being taken, can neither stand behind nor in front of the goal line.
The law adds that if a goalkeeper commits an offence, the kick must be retaken and the keeper cautioned.
But the IFAB relaxed its rules on bookings during shootouts on Friday, following a request from global governing body FIFA.
“I know these rules apply across the global game, but this is the Women’s World Cup… It is no place for experiments, or to treat women as guinea pigs,” Hayes wrote in a column for The Times newspaper.
The issue of goalkeepers being penalised by VAR has been in the spotlight at the World Cup, with Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie penalised and the Super Falcons almost eliminated in the match against France.
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