retiredref wrote:This clarification does not change the rule, it's just information to help referees make the determination if the ball is played deliberately or not. Don't think the timeliness of when this is pushed to referees will make things harder on them--it just means things will stay exactly as they are for now. As a ref there were times when this was a point of contention between game officials but not very often. If a player in a wall jumps up on a free kick and it hits his head is that deliberately playing the ball? He jumped to meet it so he did have intent to play the ball even if he didn't know when he jumped that the ball would actually come his way. While there may be some grey areas, it is usually pretty easy for the officials to tell the difference between deliberate play and a deflection.

Referees have to recertify every year so the process for pushing out IFAB updates is that they are included in the certification courses. While this isn't a change in the law, the enhanced guidance will definitely be a discussion topic, probably along with some video examples. Some referees recert over the summer so they will get these changes immediately but more don't recert until winter so there will be a lag for them. That said, every referee is expected to keep up with those changes on their own when they are published even though some are more conscientious than others about that. Since assignors are aware of that many will use en do f summer/early fall tournaments as an opportunity to highlight any significant changes and make sure the referees know about any new rules taking effect.