Plans to introduce blue cards in football are at risk of being scrapped when football’s parliamentarians meet on Saturday to discuss the introduction of sin bins at professional level.
telegraph sports Directors of the International Football Association Board (Ifab) are unconvinced that such cards would be needed during the trial of rugby-style measures in preparation for this year’s annual general meeting in Loch Lomond. , it is reported.
The newspaper’s revelation last month that Ifab was set to unveil the sport’s first permanent new card in more than half a century sparked global panic and fierce opposition from some of the Premier League’s biggest leaders.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has announced that Tottenham’s MPs will be forced to take action against the sport after a controversial proposal comes amid concerns from Jurgen Klopp, Mikel Arteta, Mauricio Pochettino and Eddie Howe. He warned that it would “destroy” the
that members of Ifab’s own board of directors, including the four home associations and FIFA’s chief executive, did not know in advance that the blue card formed part of the protocol drawn up by the law-making body’s management department; may have become clear.
Saturday’s general meeting will therefore be the first official meeting to discuss proposals aimed at clarifying when players committed crimes.
UEFA president Alexander Ceferin said the blue card had become a lightning rod for a growing movement against the sin bin in football. telegraph sports In January, he was completely against the concept.
Ifab has already been forced to oppose plans to include top-level competition in the initial review, further watering down proposals to make cynical fouls part of the sin-bin protocol and instead focusing solely on objections. It warns that this is a possibility. It could be the “cancer that kills soccer.”
Telegraph Sport also reported concerns about what happens if a goalkeeper is sin-binned, with teams being forced to choose between putting an outfield player in goal or making at least one full replacement. It has also been reported.
Publication of the new protocol clarifying all this was abruptly blocked last month after the emergence of the blue card scheme caused panic including in football’s corridors of power.
Also on the general meeting’s agenda is a plan to give referees the power to stop matches for a “cooling-off period” in the event of a major collision. The length of the period in which players are ordered to retreat to their own penalty area has not yet been decided.
Other proposals include trialling another rugby-style measure that would ban players other than team captains from approaching match officials.
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