This throw-in scourge that is threatening to ruin Premier League football.
It isn’t a new thing. The use of a throw-in as a major attacking threat.
Back in the day you had that bloke at Tranmere Rovers, Dave Challinor, who in the 1990s and early 2000s used a long throw-in to try and cause chaos in the opposition penalty area.
That was seen as fair game by many, a lower league tactic, especially when they played a top tier club and ruffled their feathers with the long throw-in bombed into the penalty area.
The stakes were raised though when a Premier League club then started to doing this as arguably their main attacking threat. Rory Delap was at Stoke City from 2007 to 2013 and I think fair to say that whilst it was amusing when watching on TV when Delap was upsetting certain teams and managers, nobody really thought this was great to watch on a regular basis.
Who though could ever have predicted that one day we would see it now ‘fashionable’ across the Premier League, for most clubs to see the long throw-in as once of their (hopefully) biggest goal threats.
Newcastle United have joined in this season, to a degree, with the latest craze, latest fashion, though nowhere near to the degree that others embrace it.
We have kicked off 2026 with two of the worst extremes of suffering from the long throw-in at St James’ Park in these first two matches of the new year against Crystal Palace and Leeds United.
It isn’t that I think a long throw-in should be banned. That would be daft. Of course a team should be allowed to have a player or players to throw the ball as far as they like.
Rather, it is the length of time this all takes.
Crystal Palace took forever on Sunday on their long throw-ins, whilst Leeds United, especially when they were leading, took what felt longer than forever to take each long throw-in.
The game endlessly held up whilst the long throw specialist gets to the ball, dries the ball, dries his hands, prepares his position to run from, then eventually sprints and chucks it as hard as he can.
It is so ironic that this long throw-in nonsense has took over the Premier League at the very same time as there has been a clampdown on Premier League goalkeepers.
When you are watching PL matches now, if a goalkeeper has held the ball more than a few seconds, you will often hear the commentator say the keeper having to watch out as they can’t now hold the ball for more than eight seconds.
Yet in the very same games, you can have for example a left-back trotting over to the right attacking corner, or a right-back trotting over to the left attacking corner, maybe then taking even more than a minute to take a throw-in, with nothing said by the commentator!
My solution?
If you can say a goalkeeper only has eight seconds to release the ball, why can’t you say a throw-in has to be taken within say 15 seconds at the very most?
Why should you be allowed more than 15 seconds, never mind a minute or more, to take a throw-in???
Imagine if say every time a team got a goal-kick, the centre-forward trotted back from the other half to take it? I probably shouldn’t have mentioned this as it could be the next craze to cut the amount of time further that the ball is in play!
People endlessly moan about VAR and especially the time they take on major decisions. However, for me it is far worse when you are at a match and repeatedly waiting forever for throw-ins to be taken.
I would also extend this to corners as well, to an extent. I think far too much time is taken on them as well these days, though I think they deserve more time than on a throw-in, as a corner is something that has usually taken more effort and ability to win, than a throw-in.
I think Premier League goalkeepers only allowed eight seconds before releasing the ball is excellent.
I would then also make it fifteen seconds allowed to take a throw-in, or else the opposition gets the throw-in.
Whilst on corners ideally thirty seconds as the limit, though maybe forty seconds if I’m feeling generous. Then a goal-kick given instead if you take too long.
So of you have your long throw-in specialist close to where the ball goes out of play, then absolutely having the right to launch the throw deep into the penalty area, if doing so within 15 seconds.
There’s currently no specific time limit for taking a throw-in in football.
So it is basically down to the discretion of the referee, which as we know all too well, means it rarely ends well now, as they constantly fail to get things right, too scared to do the right thing. Referees can caution players for wasting time but to be honest, I don’t think I have ever seen a referee even telling a player to hurry up when taking forever to do a long throw-in, never mind give him a yellow card!
Back in late October 2025, the stats showed that long throws had doubled in the Premier League this season and no surprise, this had led to a reduction in the average in-time play in matches, due to waiting forever for players to take a long throw-in.
Back in Autumn 2025, the IFAB (International Football Association Board) discussed the possibility of potentially mirroring the new eight second rule for goalkeepers, to prevent excessive time-wasting. However, I have seen nothing reported since then.
Pretty much every change that ever does happen in terms of the rules, makes football worse. Almost as if those in charge are clueless…
As we wait for an actual written down rule to come in, why can’t the Premier League, PGMOL, whoever, in the meantime put out a directive to all clubs, stating that taking any longer than 20 seconds to take a throw-in will be seen as time wasting and punished with the opposition given the throw-in instead AND preferably a yellow card for whoever was taking forever to take the throw-in.