Innovation is the key to business success, and football is no different. New ideas should move things forward, while the latest suggestion to introduce blue cards and sin bins for dissent and tactical errors would be a step backwards for the game.
We need to root out dissent, but risking the quality of the spectacle is not the way to do that. Referees should not be exposed to abuse and players must learn how to control themselves in a pressurized environment, when one decision can change the course of a match or season. But if they cross the border, officials have the means to punish them with a yellow or red card. These methods can be used more often to help referees. Introducing an alternative does not seem worthwhile because it complicates matters too much.
Related: Goalkeepers would not be exempt from blue cards under the new sin-bin protocols
It is often said that an elimination “ruins the game” because it will cause a team to desperately try to waste time. A team with a player in the sin bin could very well be in a low block, which would make the period quite unpleasant for spectators. No one wants to pay a lot of money to watch a game – in person or on television – and end up watching a team use every trick in the book to waste time and let their teammate come back without conceding a goal.
The irony is that when we try to stop wasting time, the blue card would lead us to go to extremes. It would also make the game tactically boring. If referees used yellow and red cards as a matter of course for dissent and cynical tactical errors, the players would learn.
Things have improved when it comes to dissent at the highest levels; The days of ten players surrounding the referee are over. One thing VAR has helped with is that trying to influence the referee is almost redundant as teams know that important decisions are reviewed off the pitch.
Arsenal’s Women’s Super League match with Manchester United this weekend will break the competition’s attendance record after the club announced on Thursday that the match at the Emirates would be sold out.
More than 60,000 tickets and all hospitality packages have been sold for Saturday’s match and Arsenal should break their own record of 59,042, which they set against Chelsea in December.
“We are grateful for the incredible support we have had throughout the season,” said Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham. “The relentless commitment and support of our supporters, coupled with the performance of our team and the hard work of everyone behind the scenes at our club, made this moment possible.”
This is the second time the stadium has sold out for a women’s match, following the second leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final against VfL Wolfsburg last season, when 60,063 people attended the match.
When Arsenal won the Champions League, then known as the UEFA Women’s Cup, in 2007, 3,467 people turned up for the second leg of the final at Meadow Park.
The record attendance for a women’s club match in England was set at last year’s FA Cup final, where 77,390 people watched Chelsea beat Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. Reuters
I appreciate the difficulties referees face, especially at grassroots level. I previously coached an under 11 boys team as a volunteer and one time when the referee didn’t show up I had to be the referee or we wouldn’t have been able to play. I was a player at the time, coaching on Saturday mornings and playing on Sundays, but I didn’t expect the vitriol I faced when making decisions in a children’s game. My goal was to make the right decisions, keep the players safe and create an enjoyable environment. But on the sidelines, some parents were ruthless and shouted at me, and I quickly learned the difficulties of being a referee at any level. It changed my perspective on the pitch and where previously I might have criticized a decision, I became more understanding, helped by the culture our manager had created by not wanting us to be a team that would constantly complain about the referee.
Such an experience opened my eyes and it would be useful for players to learn about refereeing from a different perspective. Perhaps anyone guilty of referee barracking could be sent on a course and spend time officiating a grassroots game – that would help them learn the complexities that come with refereeing. Education is as important as a deterrent.
Sin-bins are used in Sunday competition and are a fantastic incentive for players to be more courteous to the referee, as without officials there is no match. However, in certain aspects it is necessary to distinguish between basic football and elite football. At youth level, the main emphasis is on training players so that they can learn the rights and wrongs of football, whether it is crossing a ball or being respectful to a referee, so that I can learn the benefits of using it to see.
The most noticeable change in top-flight football in recent years has been the introduction of VAR. Despite this becoming part of the norm at the top levels of men’s football, it is riddled with issues that have yet to be resolved. The conclusion that blue cards and sin bins can be seamlessly integrated seems optimistic to those coming up with the ideas.
The blue card will also be tried out in women’s football. I understand and agree that you want the rules to be the same because football is football. However, the women’s game doesn’t even have goal-line technology, let alone VAR as a standard. I’m sure people will say that the cost of implementing a new card, as opposed to goal-line technology, is a factor, but for the women’s game, goal-line technology is much more important for the foreseeable future. Cost should not be an excuse; this is the top level of women’s football and the stakes are too high not to be able to do this.
As Tottenham head coach Ange Postcoglou said, sin bins are ‘going to destroy football’. The authorities come up with new ideas for the right reasons, but the methods will be harmful. Football is still a simple game and the answers are often a lot simpler.