Premier League referees will change the way they judge hair pulling next season after three players were sent off for the offence in 2025-26.

Officials will also be asked to place a greater emphasis on grappling and holding inside the area after it became commonplace on corners and set-pieces.

A solution to stop the goalkeeper “tactical timeout” is also set to be introduced.

The measures were agreed at the Premier League AGM earlier this month after consultation with the game improvement advisory group.

They form part of the “football principles” and “refereeing points of emphasis” for 2026-27.

All three red cards for hair pulling came through a video assistant referee review, and led to criticism from the managers of the players involved.

Everton’s Michael Keane, Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez and Sunderland’s Dan Ballard were all sent off for hair pulling after a VAR intervention.

United boss Michael Carrick called it “one of worst decisions I’ve seen” but lost an appeal to get the three-match ban overturned.

Stockport County defender Josh Dacres-Cogley was dismissed for the offence in the League One play-off final too.

But from next season, not every time a player is seen to pull an opponent’s hair will a red card be shown.

Instead, greater emphasis will be placed on both the level of force and the intention.

Everton boss David Moyes criticised the red card shown to Keane, claiming his player had received a ban for “absolutely nothing”.

However, the new guidance does not mean hair pulling will suddenly be tolerated.

Referees will be told to look for a “clear and deliberate action” which has “excessive force and/or brutality”.

It is likely that Keane would still be sent off – his holding and pulling the hair of Wolves’ Tolu Arokodare deemed violent conduct.

But Ballard and Dacres-Cogley would probably be judged to be yellow-card offences – though the VAR cannot intervene for bookings.

Martinez’s red card would be considered a borderline case and open to interpretation.

The change is in intended to give more latitude to players who may accidentally hold onto an opponent’s hair.

A match between Everton and Manchester United in March encapsulated a season of corner chaos.

Set-pieces were blighted by holding, grappling and pushing inside the area – instigated by both teams.

The Toffees had several players standing on top of goalkeeper Senne Lammens. Leny Yoro was pushed into the net by James Tarkowski. Then Harry Maguire got involved too.

“You get the feeling now that referees really don’t want to get involved in any of it,” Moyes said. “It’s really poor that they’ve not tried to deal with it.”

Next season, referees will be told to pay much more attention to “holding actions that have clear material impact”.

This includes players who are “clearly only focused on opponents and making a holding action”.

Challenges on goalkeepers will be penalised if there is no intent to play or challenge for the ball.

It comes as no surprise that the issue would be highlighted by the game improvement advisory board.

Goalkeeper tactical timeouts a major frustration

The “football principles” are created based upon the results of the annual football survey – sent to captains, coaches, commentators and other stakeholders.

This then determines the “refereeing points of emphasis”.

The game improvement advisory group recommends adjustments that will enhance the game and meets regularly across the season. The Premier League Football department, PGMO and representatives from clubs take part.

In the past this has resulted in a more relaxed application of handball and has been used to set the thresholds for challenges and for VAR.

The goalkeeper “tactical timeout” came out as a particular issue this year.

The tactic is used by managers to get new instructions to their players, or to impact the momentum of the opposition.

The goalkeeper sits on the turf and signals for the physio and the other players rush to the technical area for a team talk.

The survey found that 85% felt this was a problem.

Players at the World Cup have been banned from going to the touchline to outlaw this “tactical timeout”.

The Premier League is discussing a solution ahead of the new season.

General timewasting by goalkeepers was an issue for 73%. This will be tackled by a new law which has just come into force.

If keepers delay a restart on a goal-kick a referee can start a five-second countdown. If time runs out, the opposition will be given a corner.

The results of last season’s survey also showed:

96% support the high threshold for penalising challenges by on-field officials

65% back the VAR threshold

85% support the continuation of open and transparent communications

68% would back live audio and footage of VAR reviews

43% in favour of wider VAR powers

37% support VAR reviews for corners

The key theme about VAR was the slow speed of decisions.

Based upon the results, the Premier League will not adopt the competition opt-in for the VAR to check corners which is in place for the World Cup. (BBC)

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