Overview
- The Premier League confirmed on Friday that hair pulling will only merit a red card when it involves a clear, deliberate action with excessive force or brutality and that lesser incidents can be cautioned.
- The change follows consultation with the Game Improvement Advisory Group and was agreed at the league AGM as part of new refereeing points of emphasis for 2026/27.
- The guidance limits VAR intervention by keeping a high review threshold and ruling that VAR cannot recommend or upgrade bookings, although it may review cases where a second yellow results in a red.
- Referees will also be told to clamp down on non-footballing holding at corners and to protect goalkeepers from challenges where attackers make no attempt to play the ball.
- The move reverses PGMOL's earlier bright-line treatment of hair pulling that produced three straight VAR-led red cards in 2025/26 and is intended to give officials more discretion to assess force, intent and context.