Thin White Line

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Argentines use 'free-kick' spray The Argentine Football Association is to introduce an aerosol spray to stop defenders creeping closer to the ball during a free-kick. From next year, referees will use the spray in first division matches. Referees will mark a temporary white line 9.15 metres (10 yards) from the ball, which defenders cannot cross. The spray will disappear 30 seconds later. Pablo Silva, who invented the spray, got the idea when he failed to score with a free-kick at an amateur match. "In the 88th minute, we were losing 1-0 and won a free-kick on the edge of the area. When I took the kick, the wall was three metres away," he told Reuters earlier this year. "The referee didn't book anyone and didn't do anything," he said. "We lost the game, and driving home later, with a mixture of anger and bitterness, I thought that we must invent something to stop this."