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EPL: Introducing a New Blue Card

By Geoff Nichols

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English Premier League could play matches abroad

EPL: Introducing a new Blue Card

Major rule changes in sport are few and far between. They need to find the balance between making a positive difference to the sport and not altering the core aspects of the game. Soccer is a sport that relies on consistent and small rule changes when seeking for improvements and it hasn’t been since the introduction of offsides and substitutions that a major change has been implemented.

We have seen the scrutiny with which new ideas are treated. Adding more officials in the Champions League appeared to be a no-brainer and one that would herald better decision-making going forward. However, it has been implemented poorly, with no transparency on the powers of the extra officials and many fans now question what influence these extra officials have on the game. The communication from the top levels is clearly essential when introducing these new strategies.

My proposal for a new rule in soccer, mainly in the top leagues like the EPL, is for a blue card. There is no doubting it would bring about sizeable changes, but I see it as a way to address many of the issues facing soccer currently. If you’re already thinking I’ve lost my mind, take a read through some of the issues a blue card could help to solve.

The basic idea behind a blue card is that it doesn’t have any effect on the game itself, but allows for retrospective judgement on certain events. There could also be a system in place, similar to the fact the 5 yellow cards equals a suspension in the EPL, two blue cards could have an allocated punishment.

Diving

Diving, flopping, feigning injury, however you go about labeling it, players going to ground too easily has changed the face of the game. Watch any match from any league for 90 minutes and you will see a number of incidents of this and many people think it is ruining the game.

Referees have started to give yellow cards for obvious dives and this has definitely helped. Players now fear gaining a reputation for going down easily and this is the kind of culture that we want to encourage. Diving, essentially cheating, should be something to be embarrassed about. Sure the argument exists that you do everything to help your team win, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t breaking the rules, which at the end of the day should not be tolerated.

Blue cards will allow referees to clamp down even further on diving and will enable them to punish dives retrospectively. There is an element of hesitation from referees currently with booking a player for diving, as the stigma attached to it makes it difficult for referees who want to be 100% sure that they are making the right call. A blue card reduces this pressure and allows for referees to stick by their instinct, present the blue card and deal with the incident accurately after the game.

Shirt Pulling

The EPL has a real dilemma with shirt pulling and it seems to rise to prominence every season without fail. From set pieces and corners some defenders (Martin Skrtel I’m looking at you) seem more focussed on dragging the man they’re marking down than actually clearing the ball.

It is becoming an even bigger issue as some referees are now punishing this offence and others are not in the same weekend of action. There is no consistency, which is a staple for good officiating. Much of the time there are no consequences for the offending player. How often do you see a referee delay the taking of a corner to chat with two players wrestling in the box, given each a ‘final warning.’

This warning is more often than not pointless, as the two players continue to tub at each others shirts and the referee does nothing. With a blue card in his pocket the referee would be more willing to incite the offender and there is much less pressure on his decision. If a player knew that his shirt grabbing was to be video analysed after the game, I think we would see a sharp decline in it’s occurrence.

Time Wasting

Near the end of a match a goalkeeper on the winning side is often seen to be time wasting, taking an extended amount time over goal kicks. It is a tactic every club in the world has employed when protecting a lead and is common in the EPL.

Referees will give goalkeepers yellow cards when they finally lose patience with the keeper’s antics and the keeper will remonstrate with the referee, acting as if they are being unfairly persecuted. But in reality, this is smoke and mirrors from the goalkeeper, who in all likelihood cares very little about the yellow card they just received and has already achieved his aim of slowing the game down to a standstill.

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In the dying minutes of a match they are not going to get a second yellow. They are also not going to rack up five yellow cards in half a season which warrants a one game suspension in the EPL. The yellow card in this situation is meaningless and therefore is not an effective deterrent.

One of the worst things at the end of a hard fought game is for the spark to be extinguished by a keeper spending time over a goal kick. It kills the momentum of the game and that is it’s purpose. A blue card in this situation is the perfect remedy.

Keepers will know two blue cards will lead to a suspension and will therefore be discouraged from time wasting. With the retrospective aspect of blue cards, referees could also rescind a blue card if they wrongly called up on goalkeeper on time wasting.

Celebration Based Infringements

A lot of fans questions the logic of giving a yellow card to a player who removed their shirt or celebrated with the crowd after scoring a goal and I am inclined to agree. The joy of scoring a goal should not be tempered by fear of getting a yellow card.

The logic behind punishing a player removing his shirt is that it is unsporting behaviour. Reading between the lines it seems more likely that it is offensive in some countries for players to bare their chest or sponsors want the shirt on display when all the cameras are on the goalscorer.

Either way, it is not a footballing offence. The punishment shouldn’t be a yellow card that puts a player half way to being removed from the field. A blue card means that is still frowned upon, but can be dealt with after the match.

Managers and Staff

Sending a manager off and making them sit on the stands is like reprimanding a naughty school boy and making him go and sit on the naughty step. It is an old-fashioned punishment that has not survived the evolution of touchline management.

Nowadays, not only the manager but also a number of staff patrol the side of the pitch and are regularly seen to be straying close to the line of acceptable behaviour. A referee in possession of a blue card will be able to deal with these situations is a much more decisive manner.

If a member of staff has broken the rules, issue them with a blue card and deal with their punishment after the game.

Difficulties

As with implementation of any major rule change, the introduction of a blue card has it’s difficulties. Firstly, it is not a system that could filter down into the lower leagues.The need for retrospective action when a blue card is awarded means that soccer at the lower levels will not have the means to have this system in place.

Training referees on when and how to use the blue card is also a challenge. Refereeing is a subjective business and that will never change, but adding in a retrospective element that relies of combing over video analysis does add in an extra layer of possible scrutiny for referees.

Overall, it is no doubt this an idea that has been mulled over at the FIFA headquarters. Other similar ideas such as sin bins have also come to the fore in recent years and for every ten bad ideas there will be one good one that will change the face of soccer for the better. Continually seeking improvement is what separates the good from the great and soccer needs to set the trend of making positive changes.

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