The Premier League is to soften how referees judge hair pulling incidents next season, after three players were sent off for the offence in 2025-26 under a strict zero-tolerance policy that drew sustained criticism from managers and pundits alike.
The changes were agreed at this month’s Premier League AGM as part of the “football principles” and “refereeing points of emphasis” for 2026-27, following consultation with the game’s improvement advisory group. Under the current policy, in place since at least December 2022 under chief refereeing officer Howard Webb, hair pulling has been automatically classified as violent conduct, triggering a red card and mandatory three-match ban for any confirmed incident regardless of the level of force involved.
All three dismissals this season came after VAR review and led to public criticism from the clubs involved. Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez was sent off in April after pulling the hair of Leeds United’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin during what initially appeared to be a routine aerial challenge. United manager Michael Carrick called it “one of the worst decisions I’ve seen,” though an appeal against the three-match ban was unsuccessful. Sunderland’s Dan Ballard was dismissed for the same offence in May, while Everton’s Michael Keane was also sent off after pulling the hair of Wolves forward Tolu Arokodare — a decision Everton boss David Moyes said had punished his player for “absolutely nothing.” Stockport County’s Josh Dacres-Cogley was similarly dismissed in the League One play-off final.
Under the new guidance, published by the Premier League, a red card will now only be issued where there is “a clear and deliberate action to pull an opponent’s hair with excessive force and/or brutality.” Where the action is judged to be without excessive force or brutality, a yellow card will instead be shown — though as VAR cannot intervene retrospectively for bookings, such incidents would no longer be reviewable after the fact.
The change is unlikely to spare every player previously sent off under the old rules. Keane’s challenge on Arokodare, which involved holding and pulling the player’s hair and was deemed violent conduct, would likely still result in a red card under the new framework. However, the incidents involving Ballard and Dacres-Cogley would probably now be judged yellow-card offences, while Martinez’s case would be considered borderline and open to interpretation.
Former Premier League referee Darren Cann had previously argued for a rethink of how hair pulling is categorised, telling BBC Sport: “Is it time to reconsider where hair pulling should sit? I think so. One solution worthy of consideration would be to make ‘pulling an opponent’s hair’ a separate category. There is precedent for this — biting or spitting at someone is an act of violent conduct but, as far as a ban goes, it is treated separately. It is clear that some hair pulls are extremely violent and others are not.”
Alongside the change on hair pulling, referees will also be told to pay much greater attention to grappling and holding around set-pieces next season, following a chaotic campaign in which corners were frequently disrupted by pushing and wrestling inside the box. A March meeting between Everton and Manchester United became emblematic of the problem, with several Everton players standing on top of goalkeeper Senne Lammens, Leny Yoro pushed into the net by James Tarkowski, and Harry Maguire also becoming embroiled in the chaos. Moyes said at the time: “You get the feeling now that referees really don’t want to get involved in any of it. It’s really poor that they’ve not tried to deal with it.”
From next season, officials will be instructed to focus on “holding actions that have clear material impact,” including instances where players are “clearly only focused on opponents and making a holding action.” Challenges on goalkeepers will be penalised where there is no genuine intent to play or challenge for the ball — part of a wider effort to address the season’s “tactical timeout” issues and bring greater consistency to how the Laws of the Game are applied across the division.
