Blue cards in football would be a backward step for the game
Innovation is key to the success of business, and football is no different. New ideas are supposed to take things forward, whereas the latest suggestion to introduce blue cards and sin-bins for dissent and tactical fouls would be a backward step for the game.
We need to eradicate dissent but risking the quality of the spectacle is not the way to do it. Referees should not be subjected to abuse and players need to learn how to control themselves in a pressurised environment when one decision can change the course of a match or season. But if they overstep the mark, officials have the means to punish them with a yellow or red card. These methods can be used more often to help referees. Bringing in an alternative does not seem worthwhile because it is overcomplicating matters.
It is often said a sending-off “ruins the game” because it will result in one team desperately trying to waste time. A side with a player in the sin-bin could well sit in a low block, making the period quite tedious for spectators. No one wants to pay good money to watch a match – in person or on television – and end up seeing a team use every trick in the book to waste time to allow their teammate to come back on without conceding a goal.
The irony is that when we are trying to stop time wasting, the blue card would lead to this being pushed to the limit. Also, tactically it would make the game boring. If referees used yellow and red cards as a matter of course for dissent and cynical, tactical fouls it would make players learn.
Things have improved when it comes to dissent at the top level; gone are the days when 10 players would surround the referee. One thing VAR has helped with is that trying to influence the referee is almost redundant because teams know key decisions are reviewed away from the pitch.
I appreciate the difficulties faced by referees, especially at grassroots level. I previously coached an under-11s boys’ team as a volunteer and once when the referee did not show up I had to officiate or we wouldn’t have been able to play. I was a player at the time, I would coach on Saturday mornings and play on Sundays but I was not expecting the vitriol I faced when making decisions in a children’s match. My aim was to make the right decisions, keep the players safe and create an enjoyable environment. But on the sidelines some of the parents were relentless, shouting at me, and I quickly learned the issues of being a referee at any level. It changed my perspective on the pitch and where I previously might have criticised a decision, I became more understanding, helped by the culture set by our manager in not wanting us to be a team that would constantly bemoan the referee.
Such an experience opened my eyes and it would be beneficial for players to learn about refereeing from a different perspective. Perhaps anyone guilty of barracking the referee could be sent on a course and made to spend time officiating a grassroots game – that would help them to learn the complexities involved with refereeing. Education is just as important as having a deterrent.
Sin-bins have been used in Sunday league and they are a fantastic incentive for players to be more courteous to the referee because without officials there will be no game. It is necessary to differentiate, though, between grassroots and elite football on certain aspects. At youth level a key focus is on the education of players to allow them to learn the rights and wrongs of football, whether that is how to cross a ball or be respectful to an official, so I can see the benefits of its usage.
The most notable change in elite football in recent years has been the introduction of VAR and despite that becoming part of the norm at the top of the men’s game, it is laced with issues that are yet to be resolved. Concluding that blue cards and sin-bins could be seamlessly integrated seems optimistic from those coming up with the ideas.
The blue card is also due be trialled 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 goalline technology let alone VAR as a norm. I am sure people will say the cost of implementing a new card as opposed to goalline technology is a factor but for the women’s game goalline technology is far more important in the immediate future. The cost should not be an excuse – this is the top level of women’s football and the stakes are too high not to have it.
As the Tottenham head coach, Ange Postcoglou, said sin-bins are “going to destroy” football. The authorities are coming up with new ideas for the right reasons but the methods will be detrimental. Football is still a simple game and the answers are often a lot simpler, too.