Blue cards SCRAPPED as Gianni Infantino shows controversial scheme red card… but gives go-ahead to sin bin trials
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he will give the “red card to blue cards” on Saturday – but sin-bins WILL be trialled.
The proposal for a third card for sin-bin offences of dissent and cynical “anti-football action” fouls caused global controversy when it emerged last month.
Spooked Law makers on the International FA Board then rowed back from a planned reveal of the idea.
And world football chief Infantino, arriving for Saturday’s annual general meeting of the Ifab at Loch Lomond, officially gave the idea the thumbs down.
Infantino said: “If you want a headline, it’s the red card to blue cards. No way.
“There will not be any blue cards used at elite level. This is a topic that is non existent for us. FIFA is completely opposed to blue cards.”
Infantino insisted he has been blindsided by the concept, adding: “I was not aware of this topic. We have to be serious.
“You also have to protect the essence and tradition of the game. There is no blue card.”
Sin-bins, though, remain on the table with a global trial almost certain to be approved for dissent – starting at semi-professional level.
It is less clear, however, if the proposal for a trial of which would also see sin-bins for deliberate cynical break-stopping fouls – Fifa refs’ chief Pierluigi Collina highlighted Giorgio Chiellini’s scragging of Bukayo Saka by the back of his shirt collar in the Euro 2020 Final – will be approved.
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Blue Murder
By Martin Lipton
IT’S a sin for football to allow cynical cheats to get away with it.
So introducing ten-minute sin-bins would be a big step forward for the game.
In truth, it does not matter what card the referee shows – blue, green or pink.
What matters is that, if the trial – which will not include the Prem or EFL at this stage – is a success, then it could become part of top tier professional football by the end of the decade.
The argument is simple: Nobody likes what Fifa refs’ chief Pierluigi Collina describes as “anti-football action”.
That is a deliberate, cynical act to stop a potential break by fouling a rival with absolutely no attempt to play the ball.
If teams who do that have to spend the last 10 minutes of a game a man short, they could pay a real price, rather than just picking up a yellow card and “taking one for the team”.
Sin bins for dissent might be a tougher argument to progress, although it might just give refs some respect back.
But having players sat by the side of the pitch, powerless as their man-short side concedes a last-gasp winner, might actually change the way players behave. And it will be a statement of intent.
That option is likely to be the most debated at the meeting, which has four Fifa representatives including Arsene Wenger and President Infantino and one from each of the four Home Nations.
But the alternative would be to mandate referees to clamp down on dissent by having to caution any player who abuses them, rather than leaving it to their discretion.
A push, led by Collina, for extending the scope of VAR to include corners, free-kicks and second yellow cards, is understood to be less likely to be backed.
Some Ifab members are fearful that VAR is causing enough controversy as it is without adding further complications that might cause more of a backlash.
And there has been a revision of the idea that time-wasting by goalkeepers – holding onto the ball for far longer than the allowed six seconds – should be punished with the award of a corner.
While a stricter approach by referees is expected, perhaps with an extension of the permitted time a keeper can hold the ball to 10 seconds, that is now felt to be too much of a sanction.
Instead, the other team would be given the ball for a throw-in level with the edge of the box.
Ifab will also endorse two planned Law changes for next season.
All deliberate handball offences by defensive players in their own box will be punishable with dismissal from next season, while the ball must overhang the centre of the spot for penalty kicks.
