Blue card and sin-bin trial announcement delayed by IFAB until March
An announcement over controversial plans to introduce a blue card into football as part of trials of a new sin-bin system has now been delayed.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the sport’s main lawmaking body, were expected to announce the trials and reveal more details on Friday as they aim to reduce the levels of dissent towards match officials, poor player behaviour and number of cynical fouls across the game.
Under the proposals, players who receive a blue card would be required to leave the field for a period of 10 minutes, remaining in a technical area on the side of the pitch, with two blue cards or a combination of a yellow and blue card then followed by a red.
IFAB were also due to release more details on Friday on three other trials aimed at improving participant behaviour in football, with the introduction of a captain-only zone, cooling-off periods and ideas attempting to address the problem of goalkeepers holding on to the ball for too long having all been approved at the last IFAB AGM in November.
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However, while those four trials all remain approved, Standard Sport understands that such protocols will now be released after IFAB’s next AGM at Loch Lomond on March 2, to allow time for further discussion.
Premier League managers were asked for their thoughts en masse on controversial trials of a sin-bin, which have been ongoing in the grassroots game, being moved to top-level football on Friday, with Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou commenting: “I don't think people will be surprised by my thoughts on it. I struggle to understand this urgency all of a sudden to bring in new things.
"I don't know if there's that much wrong with the game as I see it. My biggest issue with the game right now is that VAR has changed the experience, whether you're a player, a manager or a supporter or whatever you are I think it's changed the experience of football.
"I assume that's a means to an end, that the introduction of technology is going to get us to a better place. I remain to be convinced about that.
"Beyond that, I don't know why a different colour card is going to make any difference. I struggle with this whole taking from other sports."
Chelsea counterpart Mauricio Pochettino was similarly pessimistic, as was Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, with the Blues boss telling reporters: “It is difficult to express how I feel about the blue card. It’s difficult to explain. At the moment, we don’t have too much information about that.
“I think that is going to create more debate. It is going to be more complicated for the referees, the players, the fans.
“My feeling now is that it is not a good idea.”