Sin bins "could be brought into football as early as next month after the game’s rule-makers agreed to discuss their introduction at their annual general meeting," according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. The Int'l FA Board could also "change the laws of the game to make only the captain able to speak to the referee and give the green light to the use of electronic devices such as tablets in the dugout to help identify serious head injuries." All three amendments "would emulate rules already in place in rugby union, which has long used sin-bins and bestowed a special status on the captain and which has recently reinforced its concussion protocols." If agreed by IFAB stakeholders, which are the four British associations and FIFA, “temporary dismissals” would be initially adopted for certain offenses in grassroots, youth, veterans and disability football (TELEGRAPH, 2/1). REUTERS' Alan Baldwin reported former Dutch int'l and FIFA Chief Technical Officer Marco van Basten said that sin bins "would benefit attacking teams more than giving a yellow card to the player who has interrupted their move." He said, "It is more difficult with 10 against 11, and even more so with eight or nine." The IFAB agenda includes the extension of modifications to the Laws of the Game to "give national associations more freedom to decide issues such as the number of substitutions at lower levels" (REUTERS, 2/1). The BBC's Richard Conway reported the IFAB said that the move is intended to help the development of the game at lower levels "by promoting and encouraging more people to take part." There is also a line in the release about "fairness" and that "particular focus will be given to the role of the captain and how her/his responsibilities could be enhanced as part of a move to improve on-field discipline and create better communication between players and match officials" (BBC, 2/1).
HARD PASS: WORLD SOCCER's Keir Radnedge reported van Basten's proposals to "change association football into American football have been rubbished" by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. Van Basten has "long been an advocate of turning football into a stop-start game." Two weeks ago he "talked up scrapping offside, the introduction of sin bins, more substitutes, eight-second ‘shootouts’ instead of post-match penalties, splitting the game into four quarters and setting a cap on the number of matches footballers can play in a season." Čeferin was "unimpressed," and said, "We don't need to revolutionize the game. It's fantastic as it is. ... Hearing all these suggestions, we can only hope that FIFA leaves us the ball. Or at least that the ball remains round." Čeferin dismissed the ideas of a shoot-out and sin bin as "jokes" (WORLD SOCCER, 2/1).