The English FA closed a loophole in its rulebook yesterday allowing it to sanction players who were escaping punishment for a serious offence during a match which may have been partly, but not fully seen by match officials.

From the start of the new season, the FA has the right to take retrospective action and impose a punishment when match officials have not been in a position to fully assess a “coming together” of players.

The amendment follows a knee-high tackle last season by Wigan’s Callum McManaman on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara in which the ref’s view was blocked while the other match officials were not in a position to judge exactly what had occurred.

However, because one of the officials said on that occasion they had seen the incident, but not fully realised exactly what happened, the FA could not act and McManaman escaped punishment.

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