EFL announce interesting new time wasting rules ahead of new campaign - and it's good news for Sunderland fans

The EFL have announced a raft of new measures to try and tackle time wasting ahead of the new season, and to try and dramatically increase the amount of time the ball is in play for supporters.

Clubs had already agreed to unilaterally adopt a multi-ball system but these new measures will go well beyond that.

Referees will adopt a similar approach to that used in the recent men's World Cup and the current women's World Cup, whereby added time is calculated more accurately in line with the major delays in a half. Rather than adding on a nominal period of time for certain events, the exact time of delay related to the following will now be added in their entirety: goals and subsequent celebrations, substitutions, injuries and treatment time, penalties and red cards.

This will particularly pleasing to Tony Mowbray, who regularly called for a more precise process with regards to stoppage time last season as teams regularly tried to slow down the game at the Stadium of Light.

Some key other changes have also been announced, with officials told to take a more 'robust' approach to players trying to delay the restart of play, with yellow cards to be issues.

Players who require treatment from physios will now also be treated off the field of play, and will not be able to return while the ball is in their vicinity. This will prevent a repeat of Stoke City's controversial opener at the Stadium of Light earlier this year, where a player returned to the pitch unmarked and began a quick counter-attack.

Players can be treated on the field in certain circumstances, such as when a severe injury has clearly been sustained or when a goalkeeper requires treatment. Crucially, players will not be able to return to the field of play for at least 30 seconds if they require treatment. The EFL hope this will discourage players from trying to use an injury as a way of slowing down the game or breaking the momentum of the opposition.