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Time to ‘sin bin’ football offenders

The knee on Neymar’s back has created a furore not only in the host country but the world over with referees facing the ire for their inapt handling of the matches in this championship.

Brazil’s defender and captain Thiago Silva (centre) receives a yellow card from Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo during the quarter-final against Colombia. — AFP

Time has come to introduce ‘sin bin’ rule in football to deter rough-and-tumble play that has been the centre of discussion in Brazil more than the beautiful game at the Fifa World Cup Finals.

The knee on Neymar’s back has created a furore not only in the host country but the world over with referees facing the ire for their inapt handling of the matches in this championship.

The referees, rumoured to be under Fifa instructions, are reluctant to show yellow card to offenders in Brazil.

A team after team has accused the man-in-the-middle of going soft on Brazil. The statistics indicate that there’s some substance in the allegations of referees favouring the hosts, probably under the Fifa influence.

Spanish referee Carlos Velasco stood by and watched as Brazil-Colombia quarter-final match was reduced to a one big scuffles rather than tackles. Brazil started the rough play and different players took turns to target sheen of James Rodriguez, tournament’s highest goal scorer so far. The Spanish referee had to nip the rough play in the bud but instead he waited for 41 fouls to be committed before reaching for his pocket to take out the first yellow and only three more as record 54 fouls were committed.

Out of highest 96 fouls committed in the tournament so far by Brazil, they have incurred only 10 yellow cards in five matches.

The referees’ unwillingness to give yellow cards could also stem from the fact that another offence by the same player could send him off. Sensing the reluctance on the part of officials to punish their offences, the players appear more adventurous and indulge in rough play more often.

There’s another way to deter players without flashing yellow and red cards. And, that is to use ‘sin bin’ that is part of rugby. A similar punishment is used in field hockey where green card is given for sending a player off for five minutes after being verbally warned once.

The ‘sin bin’ is also used in some of the American sports like ice hockey and bandy, which uses white card to send offending player to cool their heels.

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, and Michel Platini have mooted the idea of using ‘sin bin’ in football. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body made up of Fifa and the four British home associations, is due to discuss the proposal and it is already being experimented in a minor Dutch football league.

I personally think it is a good idea to try out ‘sin bin’ in international football. The teams would then think twice before resorting to rough tactics as a player could sit out for repeating fouls for about 10 minutes. No team would like to play ten minutes with ten men and that could drastically bring down the number of fouls.

A new method like ‘sin bin’ is the need of the hours in football, especially at a time when the 2014 World Cup Finals has seen as many as 1806 fouls in 60 matches that too in a land known as ‘jogo bonito’.

Let’s make this game beautiful again and ‘sin bin’ the ugly offenders.