The Ref Stop

Sin Bins - 17/18 Season

lincs22

Supply League Observer
Staff member
Observer/Tutor
Dear all,

An email from the FA looking for leagues to run a pilot scheme for Sin Bins for dissent next season.

Let the fun being...

Subject: Temporary Dismissals - Pilot 2017/18 Season
Email to: All County Association CEO’s
All Leagues at Step 7 and below
Dear Colleagues
Following the decision of IFAB to permit National Associations the ability to implement Temporary Dismissals (more commonly known as “Sin Bins”) at Grassroots level of the game, The Football Association has agreed to trial the system in selected leagues for the duration of the 2017/18 season.
This will be implemented for selected leagues at Step 7 of the National League System and below including a mixture of Saturday; Sunday male and female adult Leagues and Youth Leagues.
The use of Temporary Dismissals will be restricted for cautions of dissent only. As the intention of the temporary dismissal is to have an immediate impact on the behaviour of players at the time of the game it is anticipated that this step will reduce the level of dissent experienced by referees.
Dissent accounts for 24% of all cautions at the Grassroots level of the game. As mentioned, the intention is to change the behaviour and impose an immediate sanction on the player; so whilst referees will still be required to report the incident in order for the RESPECT sanctioning to continue and to record cautions for continual misconduct purposes; the caution administered will not attract the normal £10 administration fee as cautions for dissent currently do. This puts the focus on changing behaviour.
The system imposes an immediate sanction on the player for a caution for dissent who will then undertake a period of a 10 minute temporary dismissals (period amended for youth games accordingly).
The full operation of the system will be explained in a full training session to the nominated Leagues, Clubs and Referees. The training will be in the form of online WebEx sessions and potentially attendance at League meetings.
We are now inviting nominations from Leagues at Step 7 and below. In order to be accepted the following criteria must be met:
·Leagues will be using the Whole Game System for their administration
·Clubs will be using WGS for the management of their Discipline process by the start of the new season. (This is necessary in order to monitor the process).
 
The Ref Stop
That just might make my mind up about whether to get back on the horse next season.............
 
Think this sounds like a better idea than I originally thought. Glad it's just for dissent and I agree it has an immediate effect - should help stamp out a bit of dissent once people realise they're off for 10 minutes
 
Who's paying for the third watch needed to monitor the time?

Who's going to manage the 'sin bin' on the touchline?

What happens when you have 5 players from the same team in the sin bin?

The whole idea is utterly ridiculous at anything below National,League level and needs to be sacked off ASAP.

Will quite possibly be a deciding factor in what leagues I sign up to next season.
 
Who's paying for the third watch needed to monitor the time?

Who's going to manage the 'sin bin' on the touchline?

What happens when you have 5 players from the same team in the sin bin?

The whole idea is utterly ridiculous at anything below National,League level and needs to be sacked off ASAP.

Will quite possibly be a deciding factor in what leagues I sign up to next season.
It's not particularly hard, just note the time the player leaves the FOP and then add 10 minutes on giving the time he can come back on, can't see there being any need for a third watch.

As for the management, make it clear the player isn't to return to the FOP until given permission by the referee in the form of the normal signal (such as the one for the re entry of a player who left the FOP to receive treatment), remind him/her that if they do re-enter without permission this will result in a second caution and they'll take no further part in the game.

As for 5 players in the sin bin, the scenario is extremely unlikely, especially because a sin bin would only be for dissent. A bit of common sense would work here, possibly call the captain/any sensible player left on the pitch in after 3 sin bins and remind them that if the number becomes 5 then the game will be abandoned as per the LOTG and no doubt the league will impose a large penalty due to the conduct of the players.

I can't see the scheme causing any major issues?
 
Who's paying for the third watch needed to monitor the time?

Who's going to manage the 'sin bin' on the touchline?

What happens when you have 5 players from the same team in the sin bin?

The whole idea is utterly ridiculous at anything below National,League level and needs to be sacked off ASAP.

Will quite possibly be a deciding factor in what leagues I sign up to next season.

Why on earth do you need a 3rd watch?
Just write down the time on your notebook or whatever you use to record the match. We already deal with this in Futsal.
Why do you need to manage it? Player shouts to come on after 10min (or you check and signal him on). What else is there to manage?

the only concern is the 7 players - and it looks like this hasn't even been considered in that letter. IMO it should be written so that if the sin bin would bring them below 7 players, then you don't sin bin but just caution as normal so there's no breach of the 7 player law. Seems very silly to be talking about abandoning for a cautionable offence if the team drops below 7 players.

Because bear in mind that it's not unheard of to only start a game with 8 or 9 players, so won't go far to bring it below 7.

Also a question of what if you're down to 7 with 1 in the bin then there's a send off or injury.

There are a number of ways to approach it without it actually being a problem or have to lead to abandonment, but the comp rules need to have something in place to address this. the only problem is when there's no ruling around the scenario.

seriously, this looks to be far less problematic than the frequent offside tinkering!!
 
Rugby has no problem with it but dissent is less of an issue. You can move a penalty forwards 10metres if a player shows dissent.

My biggest concern is that the coaches won't help especially when it comes to time. Everbody has a smart phone with a timer but none of them ever think to keep a tab themselves!
 
Let's not compare apples and oranges......Rugby has a totally different mindset when it comes to referees.

The presumption is that players and managers are going to be totally compliant over the whole thing.......
What about the player who necks a couple of cans of lager whilst sin binned? Or the one who puffs on a joint?

It's a ridiculous idea, and if referees have any sense they'll steer well clear of leagues using it.
 
That can already happen with substitutes....or players at half time....... :wall:
You haven't actually presented anything at all that's a problem......Multiple watches? Joints and beer? I can't wait to see what hilarious 'problem' you come up with next!!

I feel like this has the makings of a sketch show youtube channel, in the traditions of the finest British silent comedies. With that whole fast-forward thing with Benny Hill music that, as I understand on my side of the pond, is pretty much the format of every single British comedy.

Stay tuned for more adventures of ......Padfoot and the Sin Bin!!! What will those zany, crazy players do next??:D:D

Heaven forbid they try something new to tackle dissent which might actually work!

As for coaches and players not being compliant - The only thing required from them is to not have the player re-enter the field without permission. If they want to count 10 minutes or depend on you to notice it that's their call and their loss if you don't notice 10min has elapsed. There isn't really much required in the sense of compliance....substitutions require more compliance.......
 
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Yes there will be admin problems, but I do think, youth level in particular, it could be effective.

How does a yellow card "hurt" a 15 year old? It doesn't- he's unlikely to pay any fine (that'll be Dad or the club) and he gains bragging rights in the playground on Monday morning. Take away 10 mins of his playing time and he'll notice that. Plus his team mates will be a man down so they'll be annoyed with him, too.

I think the idea has merit.
 
We haven't discussed whether we think this will actually reduce dissent - I personally don't see it. At grassroots these players are paying to play and a fine for dissent (which is often more than other cautions) is a decent deterrent. I think this says the fine will be reduced a bit - so in summary next year the fine goes down and they get 10 mins to catch their breath while their mates park the bus and generally waste time with slow throw ins etc. I don't think it's hard to manage just not convinced it will add anything. We'll see.
 
Yes there will be admin problems, but I do think, youth level in particular, it could be effective.

How does a yellow card "hurt" a 15 year old? It doesn't- he's unlikely to pay any fine (that'll be Dad or the club) and he gains bragging rights in the playground on Monday morning. Take away 10 mins of his playing time and he'll notice that. Plus his team mates will be a man down so they'll be annoyed with him, too.

I think the idea has merit.

Good point on youth football.
 
Out of interest, which 10 minutes am I supposed to use? I generally run two watches - one going for a straight 45 minutes (left wrist) and the other that I stop in order to carry out subs, in order to dole out cards and if the ball goes miles away and we have to wait for someone to jog over and get it. It's not massively uncommon for those two watches to be 3 or 4 minutes apart by the end of a half (assuming I remember to restart my right wrist!).

My main concern over this is that a team who finds themselves a man down is going to be tempted to try and kill time. A few extra seconds over each throw in and free kick. Walking to get a distant ball rather than getting the spare match ball thrown on - and indeed, clearing the ball further than they really needed to as well. Excessive use of roll-on-roll-off subs. If I time the players 10 minutes on my left hand watch, he'll end up only spending 7 or 8 mines of actual playing time in the sin bin. And if I use my stop/start watch, manager will be furious that their smartphone says he's been off for 10 when my right wrist only says 8.

I'm fairly sure the answer will be that sin bins are for 10 minutes of time (rather than 10 minutes of play), but I'm sure this is going to result in timewasting and that's potentially problematic.
 
Let's not compare apples and oranges......Rugby has a totally different mindset when it comes to referees.

The presumption is that players and managers are going to be totally compliant over the whole thing.......
What about the player who necks a couple of cans of lager whilst sin binned? Or the one who puffs on a joint?

It's a ridiculous idea, and if referees have any sense they'll steer well clear of leagues using it.
Do you generally allow subs to come on if you've seen them drinking or smoking something suspicious? If a player is inebriated, you shouldn't be letting him on the pitch as they're potentially a danger to anyone they try and tackle - sin bins don't change the fact that your primary duty is player safety.
 
I genuinely have no idea if it will reduce dissent or not. Personally I don't think anything will reduce dissent until a consistent, low or zero tolerance policy approach is adopted. Sin binning won't do much, I think, because the tolerance is still too high. Referees invite players to let their anger get the better of them - I get that it's a 'real' punishment as opposed to a card which isn't really a punishment at all, but that alone won't be enough to control players. And the downside is once the player is off the park, it's harder to notice any dissent they're still doing.
But on the other hand, it gives the coach time to tell them to pull their head in before they get sent off. So perhaps the real gain won't be so much in reducing the low level stuff, the mobbing, the stuff we're not dealing with - but helping to ensure that players don't continue to carry on after they get dealt with the first time. And if so, that's a positive.

Out of interest, which 10 minutes am I supposed to use? I generally run two watches - one going for a straight 45 minutes (left wrist) and the other that I stop in order to carry out subs, in order to dole out cards and if the ball goes miles away and we have to wait for someone to jog over and get it. It's not massively uncommon for those two watches to be 3 or 4 minutes apart by the end of a half (assuming I remember to restart my right wrist!)..
Well I'm pretty sure the sin bin isn't '10 minutes plus stoppage time'. It's just ten minutes..........it would just be too hard to try and consider stoppage time on it as well. So yeah, you could have the scenario where a player is sinbinned then 20 second later there's a 10 minute injury stoppage, but oh well.

Excellent point on the potential timewasting though. Definitely something for referees to be aware of.
 
Well I'm pretty sure the sin bin isn't '10 minutes plus stoppage time'. It's just ten minutes..........it would just be too hard to try and consider stoppage time on it as well. So yeah, you could have the scenario where a player is sinbinned then 20 second later there's a 10 minute injury stoppage, but oh well.

Excellent point on the potential timewasting though. Definitely something for referees to be aware of.
You don't even need an injury to be honest. I had a situation a few weeks ago where 2 or 3 match balls had gone over fences and been lost. When the 4th match ball went missing, they threw on another and you could tell from the first bounce that it was flat as anything. So I threw it back and they claimed they didn't have any more suitable balls. And the away team wasn't keen to use any of theirs, given how many had already gone missing - and to be fair to them, it's the home team's responsibility to supply match balls.

Anyway, I eventually managed to negotiate a situation where the away team lent a pump to the home team so that they could get a "practice ball" pumped up enough to use, while a home spectator went round to knock on doors and ask for balls back. Point being, at grassroots level where this is being proposed, there are hundreds of ways for time to be lost, many of which referees will never have experienced and have no idea how to handle. We absolutely need guidelines on this kind of thing.
 
I think the simplest way would be that it's a 'raw' 10 minutes. Given that technically we don't actually stop the clock and time lost is added on to the end of the half, there would really be no facility to extend a sin bin due to stoppages anyway. And if it means that they're only off the field for 2min of play then so be it. It's going to be unusual for it to be that extreme.

But that's different to suspending the match - for a drinks break or adverse weather.

There also needs to be guidelines around what to do with halftime, penalty shootouts, etc etc. Again, these aren't problems as such, just things that need to be in writing so they're clear.
 
Do you generally allow subs to come on if you've seen them drinking or smoking something suspicious? If a player is inebriated, you shouldn't be letting him on the pitch as they're potentially a danger to anyone they try and tackle - sin bins don't change the fact that your primary duty is player safety.
'You shouldn't' and 'potentially' are two words that I'm struggling to find in the Laws GraemeS, can you point them out please? Ta
 
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