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Friday October 30, 2009

Free-kick spray has Blatter’s support, says inventor

BUENOS AIRES: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed his support for a spray being trialled in several Latin American leagues to mark the correct distance for defensive walls at free kicks, the product’s inventor said.

The South American Football Confederation (CSF) approved the use by referees of the spray, used to mark a line on the pitch, in the Copa Sudamericana, the CSF’s equivalent of the Europa League this year.

The white spray is a non-contaminating foam that can be used on grass, synthetic and dirt pitches and disappears between 45 seconds and two minutes after its application.

“Blatter was impressed with the presentation of the aerosol container and said if it’s good for football there are no reasons to prohibit its use,” inventor Pablo Silva said.

Silva met Blatter at last month’s FIFA executive committee meeting in Rio de Janeiro where they were introduced by Argentine FA president Julio Grondona.

He said in an interview that Blatter said the universal use of the spray, with which referees circle the ball and draw a line the regulation 9.15m from it at free kicks, would depend on the International Board, the game’s law makers.

Silva, director of the firm 9.15 Fair Play Limit which is marketing the spray, said if it proved a success in the Copa Sudamericana, the CSF would upgrade its use to the Libertadores Cup, its top club competition, next year and the Copa America for national teams in Argentina in 2011. — Reuters

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