Blue card to be introduced in football
Story by Raynald Ngwarati
Dubbed ‘the world’s most beautiful game’ football is set to welcome another innovation with sin bins accompanied by a new card set to be introduced in the sport.
The famous yellow and red cards are about to get a new sibling, with a new ‘blue card’ set to be introduced soon according to reports.
The blue card will represent Sin-bins, also known as temporary dismissals, which will see players temporarily leaving the pitch to protect referees from abuse.
It will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent, The Telegraph reports.
If that same player is sent to the sin bin a second time during the same game, they will not be allowed back in but can be substituted out if their team has subs remaining. A double sin bin offence is seemingly more lenient than traditionally picking up two yellow cards, which would see a team go down to 10.
The development comes in as a measure to curb player behavior and bolster respect for match officials during a given match and potentially serve as an in-between for yellow card and red card offences.
Meanwhile, in November The Guardian reported that the Blue cards have been trialed in English football since the 2019-20 season with 31 grassroots leagues taking part.
The International Football Association Board (Ifab) is expected to make an announcement soon.
England’s Football Association (FA) said that 72% of players, 77% of managers and 84% of referees in the grassroots game approved of the sin bin rule and that it led to a 38% decrease in dissent.
Modern football is not new to innovations and borrowing a page from the rulebooks of other sports after the introduction of the goal line technology in 2014 and the introduction of Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) as well the change in the number of substitutes from just three to five.
