Explained: What are sin bins that football will trial?

Football’s lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), has recommended the trialling of sin bins in professional game. The objective behind the trial will be to clamp down on player misbehaviour. IFAB board member Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the English Football Association, said: “When we were looking at sin bins – protocol clearly has to be developed – the areas we were looking at were dissent, where it’s worked very well in the grassroots game in England. “We’ve also spoken about other areas, particularly tactical fouls. “I think frustration for fans watching games when they see a promising counter-attack that’s ruined by that and the question of whether a yellow card is sufficient for that has led to us looking at whether that should be involved in the protocol as well.” What are sin bins? Sin-bins were introduced in the 2018-19 season in England and led to the Football Association reporting a 38% total reduction in dissent across 31 leagues. It was then brought up at all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season to improve levels of respect and fair play. It was then further taken to step five of the National League system in England and tier three and below in women’s football. The concept was introduced to Rugby Union in 2001 and it has been implemented across levels now. As per the rule, a yellow carded player is told to leave the field of play for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, a sin-binned player can return to play. Effectively it means a temporary suspension. It is also applied in hockey where a player that gets a green card is told to leave the pitch for two minutes. During this period, the offending team is left a player short. When will sin bins apply? The sin bin proposal will be considered at IFAB’s annual general meeting in Glasgow in March. If approved, temporary dismissals of players for offences such as dissent and tactical fouls would come under the ambit of sin bins. Further, to combat player disrespect towards referees, IFAB board members also supported a proposed trial that would mean only the team captain could approach the referee in certain game situations. What has been said from the refereeing perspective? Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA referees committee, who sits on the IFAB’s technical subcommittee, said the proposed trials would “very probably” involve professional football. “The trial was very successful in a grassroots competition,” he said. “Now we are talking of a higher level, very probably professional or even high professional football. “We need to draft something that works or is worthy for top football.” What have the players said?

Sin bins in football ? I’m so intrigued to hear everyone’s thoughts on this ?
I personally don’t like it because the level of tolerance and inconsistencies from referees will differ every week!

— John Terry (@JohnTerry26) November 28, 2023

John Terry, ex-Chelsea and England centre-back, said he “did not like” the idea because he felt “the level of tolerance and inconsistencies from referees will differ every week”.

I’ve never been a fan of sin bins before, but we are watching too many games that have 🔴cards & for me it ruins the game.
A couple of instances this season were something feels more than a 🟡 but a 🔴 feels harsh are Marcus Rashford & Curtis Jones.

Also a lot of people were… https://t.co/03O7vc93ww

— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) November 28, 2023

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Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool and England defender, said he was previously “not a fan of sin-bins” but feels “too many games” are being ruined by red cards. “A couple of instances this season where something feels more than a yellow but a red feels harsh are Marcus Rashford and Curtis Jones,” Carragher wrote on X “Also a lot of people were not happy with yellow for [Kai] Havertz and [Bruno] Guimaraes but I wouldn’t want red for those so the yellow card could be the sin-bin.”