THIS PARTICULAR STORY may be apocryphal, but it does accurately reflect the nature of the relationship between player and referee. A few seasons ago, a huge, bruising Wales forward was heard via the referee’s radio link during a match apologising thus for a misdemeanour: “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Yes, sir.” The player knows that the referee’s decision is final and any backchat ends with the penalty being moved ten yards farther up the field.
It will not have taken you long to work out that we are not talking about football here. Rugby referees do not have to put up with the foul-mouthed abuse that their footballing counterparts endure simply because the players know that they would not get away with it. Accordingly, whatever the nefarious deeds being committed at the bottom of rucks and mauls, rugby does not suffer from the problem of a complete lack of respect for the officials, so the next generation are not bombarded with negative images.
Graham Poll got so much right in the recent match involving Arsenal and Manchester United, but the question remains, why didn’t he send Wayne Rooney off when, having booked him, the United player then swore at him in such a way that even the worst lip-reader knew what the teenager was on about? Roy Keane’s Kofi Annan impersonation seemed to talk the referee out of showing a red card.
But this incident underlines perfectly the case for the sin-bin in football. Last week, the magazine, Shoot, whose question-and-answer sessions (favourite band: ELO, favourite food: spaghetti bolognese) with luminaries such as Mike Pejic (great hair, even better sideburns) were such a part of my growing up, asked me what I thought of the sin-bin and I think that it is something that football can definitely borrow from rugby.
In this case, having booked Rooney and then been subjected to the verbal assault, Poll would have been able to say: “Sin-bin ten minutes. Go and calm down.” The opposition would gain a temporary numerical advantage commensurate with the player’s offence and the game, and therefore the entertainment, would not be permanently ruined for those who had paid good money.
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The rules say that foul and abusive language warrants a red card, but let’s be realistic. Every match would end up six a side if referees stuck to the letter of the law. The sin-bin system would at least give the referee, whose job is hard enough as it is, some flexibility. Also, it is difficult for a referee to distinguish between a player swearing in his vicinity and not necessarily at him (when the player runs away after a decision is given against him, for example) and a player clearly abusing the referee to his face (as Rooney was). Much as we would love to see swearing eradicated from the game, we cannot reinvent the wheel here. Rugby can occupy the high moral ground on this one.
The sin-bin could also be used at the referee’s discretion when a player on a yellow card commits a second bookable offence that is not that serious in the great scheme of things, such as deliberate handball in the centre circle. The punishment would better fit the crime and, again, the game would not be ruined.
In the recent RBS Six Nations Championship match, Gareth Thomas, the Wales captain, was harshly sent to the sin-bin for roughly pushing an England player, but if it makes Thomas stop and think in a similar situation in the future, it will have been worth it.
The sin-bin can be used to control a rugby match that is in danger of exploding. Footballers get away with so much these days that referees need all the tools they can use to keep a lid on things. Let’s give them the bin.