Referee Massimo Busacca of Switzerland gestures during the Qatar Stars League soccer match between Al-Rayyan and Lekhwiya in Doha April 15, 2011. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad
ZURICH (Reuters) - Protecting players from heavy tackles will be the priority for referees at this year's World Cup in Brazil rather than other contentious issues such as diving, handball and the triple punishment.
Football is generally considered to have become much less violent on the pitch in the last few years and the game's governing body FIFA said during a training week for World Cup referees on Thursday that it wanted to keep it that way.
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