A ban on players displaying personal slogans on under-shirts would clear up a grey area in the rules, Football Association general secretary Alex Horne has claimed.

The FA is proposing the ban at the meeting of the International FA Board, the game's law-making body, next month.

Messages on T-shirts have become common - this season Didier Drogba revealed a tribute to Nelson Mandela, while in the past Everton's Steven Pienaar displayed one saying 'God is Great', and Mario Balotelli unveiled his famous 'Why Always Me' message when he was at Manchester City.

Even Saints' Adam Lallana revealed a message wishing his mum a happy birthday after scoring earlier this season.

Horne has defended the FA's proposal, telling Press Association Sport: "There are lots of grey lines around what's acceptable and what's not acceptable and therefore a blanket ban on anything on an under-shirt is we think a clearer rule to police.

"At the moment the rules are vague and what this would do is enable the rule to be applied consistently.

"We think it is worth tidying up and then it is up to competition organisers how they want to apply it."

Horne is on of the new directors of the IFAB, and said a report to the body about video replays for referees should be treated with caution.

The FA backed goal-line technology strongly - and Horne said it has successfully been used on 11 occasions so far in the Premier League this season - but he wants more trials before using other forms of technology.

He added: "I understand that there is a trial in Holland on video replays and I think that it what we will get an update on.

"It is a really difficult one because we have always said that technology for the goal-line, for that binary decision of a goal or no goal, is important we have heard that 11 times this season it has been used and the referee has relied on it and it has been helpful.

"I'm happy with that but it's a difficult judgement call in terms of where you allow technology into the game and how it interacts with the flow of the game.

"My personal view is I would be very, very cautious about it in terms of interrupting the flow. Offside decisions or penalty decisions or goalmouth decisions, I'm not sure but I am up for trials of these things because why shouldn't we learn."