International Football Association Board IFAB have approved yet again another controversial innovation in football – the blue card and sin bin.
Over the years, football fans have gotten used to the red and yellow card which has been the most frequently used card in the sport. There is the white card used in Portuguese football which commends exceptional instances of fair play and sportsmanship.
What are football blue cards meant for?
Like the red and yellow cards, the blue card is another disciplinary tool and control mechanism introduced to check ‘cynical fouls’ and ‘dissent.’ The goal of the blue is to reduce extremely malicious tackles by players on opponents intended to ground threatening counters and attacks while also reducing instances of dissent during matches.
The blue card plays a similar role as the red and yellow cards but there is a new concept that has differentiated it from the other two cards – sin bins.
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What are football sin bins?
The introduction of the blue cards comes with sin bins. Adopted from ice hockey, football sin bin is where erring players who have been given blue cards will be kept away from the game before they are allowed to return to action. While yellow cards allow the player to continue with his game with more caution red cards banish the erring player from the game and in the next game, a blue card is in between the two cards.
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A player brandished with a blue card will not be allowed to continue with the game but will not be entirely sent off either. He will only be kept in the sin bin for 10 minutes before being allowed to return to the game.
How will the blue card will work with red and yellow cards?
The red card and yellow card are related and complementary. With two yellow cards, a player is then sent off with a red card. The blue card will be used in a similar fashion. A player will be sent off if he bags two blue cards or a blue card and a yellow card and vice versa.
When will the blue card be used in football?
IFAB have approved the blue card and sin bins. There are reports some national FAs are ready to volunteer and test-run the innovation as soon as possible. England FA have also agreed to experiment with the new concept from next year. It will be first introduced in men’s FA Cup and women’s FA Cup before possibly trying it in all divisions of the English football system.
Reactions to football blue cards and sin bins
Football analysts and fans are largely negative on the prospects of the new card. They argue it will make the game boring by draining the competitiveness of teams who will have their player off the game for 10 minutes. Also, the initiative has been blasted for further concentrating more power on the referees in addition to what red and yellow cards has offered them.
