CONTROVERSIAL plans to implement a new blue card in football have already been in use around the world, including one of the most intense derbies in football.
Yesterday it was reported football lawmakers Ifab are planning to bring in a new blue card following successful trials at grassroots level.
The new card would see players handed a 10-minute sin-bin similar to that seen in rugby, with the card being dished out for cynical fouls or for dissent against the match officials.
These offences are all currently punished with a yellow and like a yellow card, players who received two blue cards will be sent off.
If implemented at the top level, blue cards will be the first major disciplinary change since the introduction of yellow and red cards back in 1970.
SunSport understands the card could be introduced in FA competitions such as the Trophy or Vase, they will NOT be added into the FA Cup.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
However, the card has already been used at the top level in Uruguay, albeit more than 20 years ago.
During a derby match between Peñarol and Nacional de Montevideo – the oldest derby outside of the British Isles – a blue card was issued to Robert “El Bola” Lima.
After the card was brandished Peñarol were forced to play for five minutes with a man down before he was reintroduced.
Back then the rule was a five-minute sin-bin, half of what Ifab are proposing today.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS – BEST BETTING OFFERS & NEW CUSTOMER BONUSES
Blue Murder
By Martin Lipton
IT’S a sin for football to allow cynical cheats to get away with it.
So introducing ten-minute sin-bins would be a big step forward for the game.
In truth, it does not matter what card the referee shows – blue, green or pink.
What matters is that, if the trial – which will not include the Prem or EFL at this stage – is a success, then it could become part of top tier professional football by the end of the decade.
The argument is simple: Nobody likes what Fifa refs’ chief Pierluigi Collina describes as “anti-football action”.
That is a deliberate, cynical act to stop a potential break by fouling a rival with absolutely no attempt to play the ball.
If teams who do that have to spend the last 10 minutes of a game a man short, they could pay a real price, rather than just picking up a yellow card and “taking one for the team”.
Sin bins for dissent might be a tougher argument to progress, although it might just give refs some respect back.
But having players sat by the side of the pitch, powerless as their man-short side concedes a last-gasp winner, might actually change the way players behave. And it will be a statement of intent.
The 10-minute deterrent may see the end of fouls such as Italy star Giorgio Chiellini’s brutal tug on England star Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final.
Meanwhile, data from OptaJoe has revealed there have been a record number of yellow cards dished out for dissent (233) and time-wasting (121) this season.
Tony Scholes, the Prem’s chief football officer, said: “We’ve discussed sin bins with Ifab, in the same way we’ve discussed all the potential law change trials.
“I don’t think sin bins will be available to us as a top competition anyway, yet.
“That’s whether or not we wanted to use them.
“But they will not be used by the Premier League next season.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
