With all the off the ball stuff etc going on people keep calling for 2 referees. I personally don't know why we need any more officials as there are currently 7 (excluding 4th official) at all I/C games.
What about giving the existing 3 main officials slightly altered roles. - Ref follows ball and does his normal job but also calls sidelines - Linesmen monitor their half of the pitch for off the ball stuff ignoring the ball completely. They get authority to sanction - Umpires.....................I wouldn't stress these poor divils too much....aren't we lucky to have them
Now linesmen having the balls to do it is another thing
Increase the penalties for cynical play or continuous fouling by introducing a proper 8 minute sin-bin with definitive instructions for its implementation, and none of this black card crap which should be scrapped. For arguments sake, we'll say a sin-bin would be noted with a blue card.
First off, there's more than enough yellow card offences for it to work. Not only that but there's probably too many easy yellow card offences, so change what yellow cards mean.
Indirect sin-bins from yellow cards would go like this; first yellow is a warning, second yellow is a sin-bin, third a sending off (which maybe carries a one match ban). For me, that would be a clear escalation of punishment, and more importantly, punish accordingly, but for a sending off it would mean really lacking discipline as opposed to the current situation whereby two innocuous yellows could mean earning a red.
Direct sin-bin offences would be: - Deliberately pulling down an opposition player attacking your goal (has to be a deliberate action in the view of the referee) - Fighting with limited striking (wrestling on the ground, headlocks, that type of thing) - Offensive language/physical engagement towards an official - Mistimed, but dangerous shoulders to the chest/head (tackles to be left to the referees interpretation of the incident) - Attempted cheating to influence a referee (diving for penalties, excessively feigning injury)
If a player has been already sin-binned and then commits another yellow/blue card offence, he receives a red card.
Direct red card offences: - Deliberately striking/kicking an opponent - Racism - Striking an official - Deliberate shoulders to the chest/head (tackles to be left to the referees interpretation of the incident)
As a discipline system I think it could work well. It would probably involve referees being allowed to make calls on how they feel the spirit the game is being played in and trust their instincts to call it as they see it, and would require linesmen/umpires to be more involved in the decision making.
I would also ad a review team looking at the performance of the match officials all 7, if they had a poor game then demote them to washing the footballs or some other job, too many poor performance by officials that may have cost a team a victory are allowed to continue unpunished, time to put all personal both on and off the pitch under the spotlight and not just the soft targets that are the players
If yer changes take that long to describe they will be unworkAble .. I agree with the spirit of what you suggest don't get me wrong. I'd propose the minimal of change; Keep all yellow card offences And red card As is Upgrade All black card offences to yellow All yellow card offences means 8 mins in the bin... job done And yes this means black card is gone