English Premier League players, managers and referees are set to discuss a strange-sounding new idea designed to speed up matches, by letting physiotherapists on to the field to treat injuries without play being stopped. To avoid offsides, players would have to leave the game after being attended to and reenter from the halfway line. The regulation is a new feature in English rugby and the Telegraph says it seems to have worked well. Premier League referees, in particular seem to be keen on the idea. Keith Hackett, the general manager of one of England’s refereeing associations, says he plans to bring the measure in front of the organization’s technical committee in two weeks. Subject to approval, the idea would then move on to the English Football Association referees’ committee, and then FIFA’s International Football Association Board, the body that turns these ideas into international law. FIFA President Sepp Blatter will be present at the board’s annual gathering March, which this year is in Manchester. The idea of having physios attend to players on the field would do much to curb all the faking and gamesmanship that threatens to ruin the game. Few would disagree that that kind of behavior tarnished the World Cup in Germany last summer, as games had to be stopped constantly to accommodate players who were clearly faking injuries in order to waste time. Another idea to be fleshed out by Hackett at the referee’s association is that of “blood substitutes”-also used in rugby-which would allow teams to put on temporary substitutes for players who require a lengthy amount of time with a physiotherapist before they could go back on.