GRASSROOTS COULD TURN TO SIN-BINS
SIN-BINS should be rolled out across grassroots football after an FA trial to tackle abuse of referees has proved an “outstanding success”.
The call comes from the Chairman of The Referees Association, Paul Field, who says the use of sinbinning players has significantly improved behaviour on the pitch.
Sin-bins, or “temporary dismissals” as the FA describe them, are currently being trialled in England’s ‘Step Seven’ six tiers below the National League - and the leagues below.
Field said: “There’s a significant reduction in yellow cards because the teams are managing their own dissent.”
Clubs are normally charged a £10 fine for each yellow card, but the FA waives the administration fee for those clubs that participate.
Field said: “My view is that sin-bins should be rolled out at grassroots. It is proving to be an outstanding success.
“The results have been tremendous so far, but they haven’t been officially published because we’re getting mass feedback and getting all the statistics in place.”
Levels of referee abuse within grassroots football are reportedly on the decline according to Field, but despite this, he thinks more work can still be done – particularly within the youth game.
“The level of recorded abuse is falling by most measures, however, one example of poor practice is one too many.
“There are many positive examples in football, (but) unfortunately, standards in behaviour sometimes fall below the acceptable levels, mainly within the youth game.”
He added: “Football has no problem recruiting referees and works very hard to retain referees.
“The support for referees in England is better now than ever before.”
The trials are currently running in 32 Step Seven leagues across England, which feeds into the country's professional leagues.
More than 1,000 clubs were invited to be part of the pilot process across a variety of divisions in the country, including men’s, women’s and youth leagues.