Should Sin-Bins be introduced in Football?
Blackburn Rovers chairman John Williams has called for sin-bins to be introduced in football. But could this actually work?
His call came after Blackburn midfielder David Dunn was sent off for a second bookable offence in their Premiership game against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Replays later showed that the initial booking was extremely harsh, but when the second foul was made referee Chris Foy had no choice but to issue a second booking and send Dunn off. This effectively ended Rovers’ hopes of staging a second half comeback after going 2-0 down in the first half.
This would mean that, instead of a player being sent off and banned, he would have to sit in the dugout for a period of time, say twenty minutes. At which point he would be allowed back onto the pitch to continue with the game.
The argument is that too often referees get it wrong at the top level and can ruin the game, both in turns of the team on the receiving end of the dismissals chances of winning, and the viewing spectacle for the football fan.
Williams’ point is a fair one, why should teams have to endure such miscarriages of justice, and suffer defeat because of it. When playing away at Old Trafford, or at any of the big away grounds it is difficult enough to bring home the points. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in particular have huge amounts of home fans expecting a win, and it is easy for a referee to go along what they are shouting for. The atmosphere also making it extremely difficult for players to play in with such a small contingent of their own fans at the game (75,710 fans at the Manchester United v Blackburn game, 1,900 of them from Blackburn!)
The problem with this is that people are always asking for rule changes, yet football has existed for many years with very little change.
There are so many issues currently being lobbied for by footballing personalities and supporters such as goalline technology, bringing back salary caps, limiting the amount of foreign players and then this new debate about sin-bins. With the traditional values still held in high regard in English football, it would be very difficult to implement some of these changes.
For revolutionary ideas like these to be fully implemented the FA, who have been set in their ways for so many years, would have to have a serious rethink about their stance on keeping the traditions of English football.
Should sin-bins be introduced in football? Have your say in the comments section below.
That is a stupid idea. What about automatic red cards then ? Do they get to sit in the bin or are they sent off completely ? The point is, that you get sent off for 2 bad tackles that warrant yellow cards. The first card might have been harsh, but that is down to the referee’s discretion. If he feels the game is getting out of hand then he may just give one to a player as a show of authority sending the message to other players “stop it or your going to get one next”. In the case Dunn, though the first might have been harsh, the second wasn’t. He knew he was on a yellow but still made a stupid tackle. That isn’t anyone’s fault but his own. The bins idea is a stupid one. The player goes off, gets a nice rest and some fluids in and comes back rested and fired up for the rest of the game ? how exactly is that a form of punishment ? or are we going to make a seperate little box where they are isolated ? I agree some aspects of football need to evolve with the times, but this sin-bin is just stupid.
No way! I agree with A about his take on Dunn’s sending off; why should we allow a player back on a pitch? It diminishes the power of a red card which punishes the player doubly by making his team play at a disadvantage.
For example, a top profesional - such as Maldini - would never want to leave his team with ten men, especially in such a crucial position. But if your idea is introduced, then they might do a cynical foul for tactical reasons. If, for example he is tired because he is old, he will get himself sent off in the 35th minutes and return in the 55th (possibly earlier with injury time).
This also reminds of hockey where a player is sent off for two minutes to allow the other team a crucial one man advantage, but in football a one-man advantage for a short period of time does not do that* much.
NB it might also make football a dirtier sport
I wouldnt throw this idea out just yet, although Andrei makes a good point about football becoming more cynical.
The problem with people is that they don’t like change, so they’re not going to think about how something like this can work.
Think about how sin bins could work. A player can’t stop swearing at the ref? Instead of giving him a yellow for dissent, send him to the sin-bin.
How would this impact the game? Instant punishment for berating the referee, a very unsavoury aspect of the game, and this punishment does not put teams at a permanent disadvantage.
Refs - even with video evidence - can get decisions wrong, so the aim is not perfection but the minimising of mistakes. Sin bins cater for those ‘gray areas’ where a card is stupid but the player or team needs to be reprimanded.
If you put add sitting in the sin bin for 15 minutes along with a yellow card, it’s a powerful deterrent. Cynical fouls would cease to be effective because if you’re going to injure a player, you can easily be sent of with a straight red (I think straight reds still warrant a complete send-off).
It’s workable, but it needs to be tested out first.
“and this punishment does not put teams at a permanent disadvantage.” i don’t agree with this statement ahmed. football is a team sport and if a player swears at the ref, the entire teams deserves to be punished. it’s a part of being a disciplined squad. besides, football is an art not a science and ref mistakes (while should be minimized) and subjectivity are a part of the game.
Before the sin-bin I think there should be a rule forcing any players who’s injured on the pitch (real or imagined) that needs a stoppage in play should be required to remain out of the game for 5 minutes. First of all, I think if the player is in that much pain, he would definitely at least 5 minutes to get over it. In most cases, the player that requires medical attention are just wasting time. In the rare case that the injured player is really injured, the manager usually makes the substitution within the next whistle if not immediately.
If a striker got past you, it would become an automatic grab and trip. Possibly even the same for a handball around the net. Spending twenty minutes in a box would be preferable to giving up a goal, no?
I would assume that yellow and red cards would still be used for cynical fouls. The sin-bin would be there to use in trivial circumstances and to accompany a yellow card. However if the last man was to foul a striker when through on goal or a defender handballed it off the line it would still be a straight red card!
This idea is nuts. The thought of Zidane in a sin-bin & then coming back into the game after a head-butting incident is nuts. It just encourages more cynical behaviour on the part of the players.
Ahmed -
Stop advocating change for the SAKE of change. If a player is swearing at a ref, the ref can take issue with it and issue a warning for future offences. That is perfectly within the ref’s rights & any good ref worth his salt would do exactly that. The real problem is that the FA & FIFA don’t back their ref’s up properly which is why a lot of bad decisions are made under lots of pressure.
Since when are American sports known for their sporting behaviour anyway? And you want to introduce an idea from a sport where overt physical contact is a must as part of the gameplay.
Instead of improving refereeing and getting players to stop ’simulation’ behaviour, these issues are avoided in favour of a stop-gap measure like ’sin-binning’. I’m in favour of a video-replay by the way, ONLY for the ref to use IF he pleases. And don’t lessen the impact of a yellow/red card has on a player with such ideas. They are the ref’s only real power in a game which can so easily degenerate into shitty gameplay.
Spiral,
Stop hallucinating about what I’ve said.
I’m against consistency for the sake of consistency, and I’m against knee-jerk reactions opposing any sort of change. I think sin-binning, like other changes, are ideas worth discussion. That does not mean that I support it - far from it.
If you think the idea is old, then point to a full discussion of the pros and cons and I’ll read it and we can debate about it.
You’re right, it does encourage cynical behavior (I said that in my previous comment as well), and that’s a problem. I would still be interested in exploring all sides of the situation before binning an idea.
People use the same approach (rejecting ideas without thought) when it comes to video replays. We’ve had enough debate on those and you know where I stand on it - if it’s workable, let’s introduce it but if it causes more problems then it’s not worth it.
Ditto with sin-binning.
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I’m with Ahmed on this.
People just have to keep an open mind. All new proposed systems are there to improve the sport: making it safer, more free flowing and enjoyable to fans and players alike, without diminishing the passion and intensity. I’m for any kind of system that contributes towards the eradication of dissent and cynical play as long as it is tested thoroughly and results are positive.
Sin bin?
I like this idea.
For all those berating this idea, I think you either have the wrong end of the stick or you have not thought this through.
Straight red would still be a straight red.
Red due to 2nd yellow would still be a sending off.
Yellow for a cynical foul, etc would still be a yellow.
Yellow for trivial things, may become sin bin offences.
By trivial, I mean things which are currently worthy of a yellow, but 2 of those would be overly harsh if leading to a sending off.
When a team is down to 10, they have to work much harder.
Which idiot said a player would come back refreshed? If he stops for 10 or 20 minutes in the sin bin, then starts again, he’s risking injury as his body and muscles will have started to cool down. So for 10 or 20 minutes he still has to keep his movement up.
As for playing 10 players outplaying 11… I have yet to see a Premiership manager (or any other) send out a team depleted by 1 to prove that theory