At long last football may be ready to follow rugby in clamping down on player behaviour with sin bins on the game’s agenda for the game at the highest level. Sin-bins have been trialled at grassroots level since 2019.
Sin bins on the game’s agenda
Now, according to a BBC report, it could be that 10 minute spells on the side lines could be on the cards for cynical fouls and dissent and have indeed have been recommended for trialling in the professional game. The International Football Association Board (Ifab), said it will “identify which levels are best to test”. As in rugby they will also include a scenario where the team captain and no other player will be allowed to approach the referee during a game.
The proposals were announced at an Ifab meeting in London on Tuesday and are subject to approval at its annual general meeting in March 2024. Former referee Pierluigi Collina, who is chairman of the Fifa referees’ committee and sits on the governing body’s technical sub-committee, said the proposed trials would “very probably” involve professional football.
Ifab secretary Lukas Brud said one of the next steps was to identify the appropriate competition where the trials could take place.
He told BBC Sport: ” The positive message of the meeting is that ‘yes, we’re going to do something in that direction. Over the next weeks and months, we are going to identify which levels are best to test. I’m hoping in the next few months, we will have clarity about which competitions will want to trial this as well. It’s up to them, competition organisers, to decide whether they want to participate in those trials or not.
“I think it is important to understand that something big like this, and a big decision like that, has to be considered thoroughly when creating protocols and setting up the system to trial it. If adopted, the proposals would apply to both both men’s and women’s football.