By Robbie Butler
I was watching the Ireland-England U20 Six Nations game on television last night and was interested to see the introduction of a new rule in rugby - the 20-minute red card. When this is used a player who receives a red card can be replaced by another player after 20 minutes. This means the team plays with one less player for 20 minutes, but after that period, they can bring on a substitute to restore their full 15-player lineup.
The punishment is therefore temporary for the team but permanent for the player. This is interesting because it seeks to distinguish between the individual and the group. A red card after 5 minutes of play is very different to a red card with 5 minutes of play remaining.
It got me thinking about the evolution of cards and their use in different field sports.
It was not until the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico that red and yellow cards were first used in football. These cards remain the same today. Yellow is a caution, with the player continuing to play. A red card means permanent punishment for both the player and team, with the individual not permitted to play and the team down to one player. The 20-minute red card lies somewhere in the middle of this.
Another variant of this can be found in Gaelic Games with the black card. A black card is a disciplinary sanction introduced in 2014 to penalize certain cynical fouls. A player who receives a black card must leave the field but can be replaced by a substitute if available immediately. Therefore, the punishment for the player is permanent but there is no punishment for the team, other than marginal loss of talent between the black carded player and their replacement.
Football attempted to trail something like this recently with a blue card. If used, the blue card would temporarily send a player off the field, effectively creating a "sin bin" system. This is identical to the yellow card in rugby, where a player must leave the field of play for 10 minutes before returning. The punishment is therefore temporary for both the player and the team.
While rugby has used the current version of the sinbin since the early 2000s, football appears to have abandoned the blue card. What works in rugby, doesn't seem to work in football.
Rugby has also successfully used the TMO since 2001. I wish the same could be said of football's VAR. Maybe it is time to send VAR the way of the blue card.
I was watching the Ireland-England U20 Six Nations game on television last night and was interested to see the introduction of a new rule in rugby - the 20-minute red card. When this is used a player who receives a red card can be replaced by another player after 20 minutes. This means the team plays with one less player for 20 minutes, but after that period, they can bring on a substitute to restore their full 15-player lineup.
The punishment is therefore temporary for the team but permanent for the player. This is interesting because it seeks to distinguish between the individual and the group. A red card after 5 minutes of play is very different to a red card with 5 minutes of play remaining.
It got me thinking about the evolution of cards and their use in different field sports.
It was not until the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico that red and yellow cards were first used in football. These cards remain the same today. Yellow is a caution, with the player continuing to play. A red card means permanent punishment for both the player and team, with the individual not permitted to play and the team down to one player. The 20-minute red card lies somewhere in the middle of this.
Another variant of this can be found in Gaelic Games with the black card. A black card is a disciplinary sanction introduced in 2014 to penalize certain cynical fouls. A player who receives a black card must leave the field but can be replaced by a substitute if available immediately. Therefore, the punishment for the player is permanent but there is no punishment for the team, other than marginal loss of talent between the black carded player and their replacement.
Football attempted to trail something like this recently with a blue card. If used, the blue card would temporarily send a player off the field, effectively creating a "sin bin" system. This is identical to the yellow card in rugby, where a player must leave the field of play for 10 minutes before returning. The punishment is therefore temporary for both the player and the team.
While rugby has used the current version of the sinbin since the early 2000s, football appears to have abandoned the blue card. What works in rugby, doesn't seem to work in football.
Rugby has also successfully used the TMO since 2001. I wish the same could be said of football's VAR. Maybe it is time to send VAR the way of the blue card.
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