EFL rule changes that Stoke City need to be aware as towels are banned

Jun 24, 2023

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The EFL is banning clubs using towels to dry the ball before a throw-in with immediate effect.

Clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two have today voted through a series of changes to regulations in time for next season, mostly referring to finance and owners or prospective owners.

There are two initiatives, however, to try to speed up the game or increase the time of ball in play. A multi-ball system will be used in all competitions, with match balls placed on cones in designated areas at pitch side - and clubs can no longer use towels or other articles to dry footballs during matches.

The EFL has stressed that also includes items borrowed from spectators after a rare incident in November last season when a Rotherham fan in the front row took off his jumper to offer to full-back Wes Harding to use as a towel.

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Stoke had fun with a towel during the days of Rory Delap and his throw-in bombardments, to the extent that Arsene Wenger tried to ban throw-ins and Stoke stitched a sneaky towel into Delap's vest.

New disqualifying conditions have been added to the Owners and Directors’ Test to ensure it aligns with the Premier League model.

That prohibits owners from countries which are sanctioned or have convictions for violent offences or fraud of any kind, among a series of other updates.

Clubs are now required to report any defaults about debts to HMRC within two working days and clubs who accumulate 30 days of late payments to HMRC over a 12-month period will be stopped from signing a player for any fee for three transfer windows.