UEFA president Michel Platini says he would like to see the introduction of a sin-bin for players who show dissent by talking back to referees.
In his book "Parlons Football" (Talking about football), released on Thursday, Platini, a former top player, launches the idea of creating a white card, to go alongside the existing red and yellow ones, to be used specifically to send players to the sin-bin if they talk back to referees. He says the move would help fight against the "craze of contesting the referee" which has become "a veritable epidemic in football". He also said the white card would be followed by a 10-minute spell on the sidelines. "It should not be confused in any way with the yellow card, which for its part is dedicated to fouls within the game," added the 59-year-old Frenchman, a legend in his country due to his feats as a player in the 1970s and 1980s. The measure was one of a number proposed by Platini in his book, including increasing the amount of substitutes allowed during games from three to five. He said he wanted to allow "two changes at half time while maintaining the possibility to make three more during the course of the match". Another idea is to remove the minimum age requirement for referees, allow goal line officials to enter the field of play and to put an end to the so-called “triple punishment”, when a player concedes a penalty and is sent-off for a professional foul, with a goal often being scored as well (becoming the third penalisation for the defending team). Instead, he argues there should be "a double punishment: penalty kick and yellow card if the foul is committed inside the penalty area; sending-off and free-kick if the foul is committed outside the penalty area".
Source: Yahoo Sports