FA extends powers of retrospective punishment for new season

The Football Association has broadened its scope to punish foul play retrospectively.

Under an amendment to the current policy the FA will, from the start of the new season, be able to act on incidents that the match officials were not in a position to "fully assess".

Before the change, which was ratified by the FA's regulatory authority on Friday, retrospective action could be taken only if none of the match officials saw a "coming together" or an incident was deemed "truly exceptional".

The move is aimed to allow steps to punish clashes such as the tackle by Wigan Athletic's Callum McManaman on Newcastle United's Massadio Haidara in March, which went unpunished after the referee, Mark Halsey, did not have a view of the incident.

With Halsey's assistants and the fourth official also not in a place to see the challenge in its entirety, McManaman escaped punishment despite the serious threat of injury to Haidara.

In a statement issued on the FA website, the governing body outlined the changes but said they would be used sparingly and would not take any power away from the match officials.

"From the start of the new season the FA will reserve the right to take retrospective action when match officials are not in a position to fully assess a 'coming together' of players," the statement read.

"Prior to this change, which was ratified by the Football Regulatory Authority, the FA was only able to take retrospective action when none of the match officials had seen the 'coming together' or when the incident was truly exceptional, for example in the case of Ben Thatcher's challenge on Pedro Mendes (in 2006).

"This change is not intended to usurp the authority of the match officials who are, in the vast majority of cases, best-placed to deal with incidents at the time they occur.

"It will be utilised only in the rare circumstances outlined above."