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Football's unwritten rules

The Laws of the Game -- laws, remember, not mere rules -- are always changing, often confusing and never quite satisfying to everyone's tastes. The people responsible for these laws, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), will meet in Cardiff next month to discuss further tweaks to the 17-chapter, 144-page book of football commandments. On the agenda for their 130th annual gathering are the possibility of "sin bins"; a review of the "triple punishment" for a professional foul in the penalty area; and, in worrying news for football purists everywhere, the exploration of video assistance for referees.

Meanwhile, the game is also semi-bound by an equally labyrinthine set of unwritten laws.