LONDON: England’s Premier League referees will use vanishing spray at free kicks from this season after officials saw the benefits during the World Cup finals in Brazil, chief executive Richard Scudamore said on Wednesday.

Referees carry a small aerosol can with the spray, used successfully at a World Cup for the first time, to mark the line of the defensive wall and the spot where a free kick is to be taken. It disappears inside a minute.

“At the Premier League we are open to developments that enhance the competition, and it was clear from watching the World Cup in Brazil that vanishing spray benefitted referees, players, and all of those who watched the matches,” Scudamore said in a statement.

“Having witnessed that, and following consultation with our clubs and the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), we have decided to introduce it in the Premier League and look forward to having it in place for the 2014/15 season.”

Former referee Mike Riley, head of the PGMOL officials’ board, said: “As an assessor at the World Cup in Brazil I saw first-hand the benefits of vanishing spray for referees, and for the game as a whole.”

The spray, produced in Argentina under the name 915 Fair Play Limit, has already been in use in major South American competitions, the MLS in the United States and FIFA junior tournaments. The number refers to the regulation 9.15 metres distance between the ball and the wall at free kicks.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014