Have You Ever Been Blue (Carded?)

 

                                                                     Image: EPLIndex

In the ever-changing world of football, the latest proposal to improve ‘the beautiful game’ is a suggestion to trial sending players to a ‘sin bin’ for a period of ten minutes during a game for certain misdemeanours.

The IFAB – the International Football Association Board (people of a certain age may think this has Thunderbirds connotations) - are scheduled to discuss the proposal at its annual meeting in March in the unlikely but nevertheless stunning location of Loch Lomond. The idea is that, in addition to the red and yellow cards all-too frequently issued by referees, there will be a blue card, likely to be issued for less serious offences such as dissent, not retreating ten yards at a free-kick or time wasting.

Rugby union operates a similar system and while clearly the dynamics of the oval ball game are different to that of association football this seems to work well enough as illustrated during the current six nations competition.

It isn’t clear yet, even if the blue card proposal is given the green light (I’m getting a headache with all these colour references) when and where the trials will start. England’s Premier League has already stated they won’t be implementing it and even FIFA have suggested it’s unlikely to happen at elite levels of football although who defines what levels of football are elite is anyone’s guess.

In fairness, I can see why the footballing lawmakers have suggested this as a proposal. There seems to be an increasing number of instances of players seeking to gain an unfair advantage by falling over as if having been shot by a sniper at the nearest brush of contact from an opponent. It really irritates me when I hear pundits and summarisers on television and radio saying, ‘there was contact, so the player was entitled to go down.’ This, in my view, is utter tosh. Some players fall over when there has been no foul committed, particularly when they’re anticipating a tackle that doesn’t arrive. Despatching such players to the ‘sin bin’ for ten minutes may not eradicate such behaviour but I suspect IFAB believe it will make players think twice before falling down like a pack of cards when an opponent tickles their arm.

I grew up watching football in the 1970s and there were hard men back then in what was a much more physical game than it is now. But there was a different attitude back then. Players such as John Greig at Rangers, Bobby Murdoch at Celtic, Drew Busby at Hearts, and John Blackley at Hibernian were tough competitors who, to use a phrase in popular use at the time, ‘took no prisoners.’  But their opponents wouldn’t collapse to the ground when they could feel their breath on the back of their neck. Rather, they wanted to show these no-nonsense players that they weren’t afraid of them.

I suspect those aforementioned players and others such as Willie Miller at Aberdeen and, down south, the legendary Dave Mackay at Tottenham Hotspur and Derby County would have viewed the sin bin as nothing more than a gimmick. Indeed, such players would probably find themselves spending ten minutes on the field of play and 80 minutes in the sin bin…

When you add in VAR – have I mentioned how much I dislike it? – I can see a game kicking off at 3.00pm and not finishing until 5.30pm. Which would be a serious issue for me as the present Mrs Smith already suspects the reason I’m late home from the football is that I partake of a pint of foaming ale from any number of hostelries on the way home. Then it’s not so much a blue card but turning the air blue and issuing me a straight red…

I agree that something needs to be done to end the blatant cheating of some players, particularly in the top-flight divisions in both Scotland and England. But refereeing officials have a tough enough job as it is without having to check when the ten minute sin bin time is up to allow a player back on the field. And one can envisage a team temporarily going down to ten men packing their defence for ten minutes – and surely the game is about scoring goals?

With the vast amounts of money in the game in England perhaps financial penalties would have minimal impact but a retrospective points deduction may drive home the message to players and managers that cheating is not acceptable. Never has been and never will be.

And from a Scottish football perspective, the flashing of a blue card to a Celtic player during an Old Firm game at Ibrox may prove a tad inflammatory.

 What is needed is a common sense approach. Add your own punchline here, dear reader, before a sin bin is installed at a stadium near you... 

 

Mike Smith

Twitter @Mike1874

www.thefitbason.com