In February, the International Football Association Board(IFAB) announced that it would be introducing blue cards into the beautiful round leather game and received a lot of backlash from fans and managers. You’re probably asking yourself why football needs blue cards when we already have red and yellow cards. Let’s take a deep dive into the discourse.
What are blue cards and sin bins?
According to IFAB blue cards will be shown to players who commit a deserving offense during gameplay. It’s like a hybrid of the red and yellow cards. Its function is supposed to lie somewhere in between the two current cards. It will be shown to players whose offense is more serious than a yellow but not deserving of a red card.
Sin bins are the punishment for a blue card. The player will be sent off the field of play for ten minutes and must not be substituted. So, if a player is shown a blue card, he must leave the pitch for ten minutes while the match continues. His team will have to play with 10 men until the ten minutes elapse.
This simple concept could have far-reaching effects and change the way the game is played. It opens the world up for new tactics that we are yet to see or even know about in football.
What offence would warrant a blue card?
While the idea and its application are not yet concrete, it is expected that players who show dissent to the referee and commit more cynical fouls would deserve a blue card instead of a yellow or a red. It is largely subject to the referee’s decision.
Who is behind blue cards?
The IFAB is behind the concept of blue cards and it’s a potential introduction into the highest level of football. It’s pertinent to note that the UEFA president has described the concept of blue cards as “the death of football” so we probably won’t be seeing sin bins in the Champions League anytime soon.
UEFA President Alexander Ceferin
Fans’ and players’ reactions to the announcement have been mostly negative. Tottenham coach; Ange Postecoglou said “Just bin the whole idea, forget about it. I don’t know why they keep interjecting themselves into the game” when he was asked about the matter.
Former Real Madrid and Arsenal player Mesut Ozil poked fun at the idea when he posted on X “So Atletico Madrid will only play with six players then.”
Almost all the premier league coaches who commented on the issue think it’s a bad idea. Newcastle United coach Eddie Howe, Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino, and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp are all against the idea.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta
Only Arsenal’s coach Mikel Arteta seemed to be on the fence about the issue. “I don’t know if we’re ready for that yet. Hopefully, it’s going to be tested very well before they introduce it at this level,” he said. “I think everything has been done with the intention to simplify football, to try to improve decisions that are hard to make in a split second. Hopefully, everything is done to improve the game and if that’s the case, then let’s try it.”
How will blue cards affect the game?
Pros
IFAB said they have already tested the concept in the lower leagues and have found it to be successful at improving player behavior. It was the rise in player dissent that precipitated the idea in the first place. Mark Bullingham; the chief executive of the FA who sits on the board of the IFAB attests to this. “The success of sin bins in the grassroots game has been prevention rather than cure,” he said. “You get to a point where players know the threat of sin-bins so don’t transgress. And we hope that it would make the same change (higher up in the game).”
CEO of the FA Mark Bullingham
Improving player behavior would be a plus for the blue card as it would reduce dissent from players toward the referee when decisions are made.
It could also potentially reduce the number of fouls committed on the field of play. When players know they could be sent off for ten minutes during the game, they would be less likely to commit a foul.
CONS
Let’s now look at what fans, players, and coaches are afraid of; the negatives.
Some coaches have said that it could potentially slow down the game. When a player gets sent off, his team would probably just play around with the ball and try to waste ten minutes until the player is let back into the game. “Other sports are trying to make their game faster, we’re bringing in more clutter,” Postecoglou said.
Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou
It would create more debate and confusion. Pochettino said “I think it’s going to create more debate. It is going to be more complicated for the referees, the players, and the fans.” Adding a different card adds another layer of complexity to referee decision-making in football. Some decisions would be scrutinized over whether it’s a yellow, blue, or red card offense.
Mauricio Pochettino
It could also create avenues for abuse. Fans are still trying to adjust to VAR and the way it is applied in the Premier League. The VAR, which was supposed to help referees make more accurate decisions, has been a source of controversy for the fans, players, and other stakeholders in the game. VAR has been faulted for wrong decisions so many times on social media and this is largely due to the way it is applied.
West Ham United coach David Moyes thinks the blue card is not necessary. “We are still in the process of trying to understand VAR so the introduction of another thing is not good at this time in the game,” he said. “There are bits of VAR that have worked well and bits that haven’t but I just don’t see why we would introduce something that would make it another incident for referees to try to handle.”
David Moyes
Our opinion?
Is the blue card necessary? Most definitely not. Football is good as it is right now and even if the officials are going to introduce something new, it should not be at this time when most competitions are still grappling with the relatively new VAR. It is both unnecessary and badly timed.
Ultimately the blue card is just a tool intended to enhance and further develop the game but whether it does this or fails depends on how it is applied. We have already seen this with the VAR whose application in the Premier League has left a sour taste in the mouths of many fans and managers.
The human factor (referees) in its application makes it less attractive and the way referees have applied the VAR has made many stakeholders skeptical about another innovation in refereeing. If they’re still struggling with VAR, is it really the right time to bring in another new thing?
Would you like to see blue cards in the Premier League? Do you think it’s even necessary?