Serie A’s Own Penalty Box?

By: Martha | July 31st, 2007

Yo yo yo! Sepp Blatter has been talking for a while about the idea of a “sin bin” in football, a place where players who commit certain offenses — specifically diving or faking injury — would serve short (five-or-so minute) penalties. Though at this point very few people tend to put much stock in what Blatter says, newly appointed referee designator Pierluigi Collina is as close to infallible as it gets in Italy (apart from the Pope, I mean), and now that he’s endorsed Blatter’s idea, it’s likely to start getting a lot more serious attention.

It’s unclear to me how this will work, but I love the idea. Remember last season, when someone (Adriano, I think) was suspended after getting a post-game card for a dive that was confirmed only on video? Well, it’s only that sort of thing that’s going to make people stop with the faking — periodic cards from particularly ballsy officials just aren’t enough; punishments must immediately hurt the team as a whole, not just the player. But how would it work? Would refs pull out cards and hand out five minute penalties all at once? Or would they be applied in subsequent games, based on video analysis?

Reading between the lines, it appears that what Collini would prefer is someone away from the pitch who hands out penalties, so that the on-pitch officials don’t find themselves “overload[ed] … with more responsibility.” That sounds like a great start, because the officials have more than enough to do just dealing with the game and Moggi and his ilk. But will there be a time-limit, or something? For example, if a player goes down in the 32nd minute and the event is reviewed by officials with a TV monitor, will they need to communicate a penalty to the referee within, say, five minutes, or could it come in the 83rd, after someone watches the video 131 times and decides it was a dive? Because something like that will inevitably lead to a whole lot of very reasonable complaints.

For this to work, I think Collina and his posse are going to need to spend an entire season analyzing matches and determining the best, fairest way to work a penalty box. Because, if they’re going to do it, it needs to be as perfect as possible from the moment it’s initiated. If it’s not, it’ll be nothing but the target of mocking without two weeks, and gone before Christmas.

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Category: Rumors & News, Serie A

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Martha

Paolo, my man, rant away. All I can say to that is "hear hear," it's bullshit to be condemned because you're trying to play the game while everyone in the place knows the guy who's rolling around like he's been shot will be fine the moment you stop. (Granted, when the guy is actually hurt it's shitty to ignore him, but one can usually give a pretty good guess about when the injury is real and when it's not.)
Martha

The whole "taking a dive in order to rest" is something I hadn't considered. Damn.

And isn't it AWESOME rickard? I can't decide if it's best not to know what's going on, or if it might actually be made even better by finding out why everyone is wearing those glasses.
rickard

"Yeah, going with Paolo’s hockey example, it’s clear that having a penalty box has failed to be a significant deterrent in that sport. If anything, Adriano might enjoy having a quick breather…"
That's hilarious... because it's true, and you know it.

Oh and that pic of Collina is the best ever.
RT

Yeah, going with Paolo's hockey example, it's clear that having a penalty box has failed to be a significant deterrent in that sport. If anything, Adriano might enjoy having a quick breather...

And I think people should quit trying to fuck with the game. There are ways to improve it, but logic has to be exercised. Read something the other day about how Euro politicians are suggesting an exemption from antitrust laws for sport (as in the US)? Just the thought of it makes me sick...
Paolo

My question would be... what is the point? It is not like hockey where you can set up and work a power play. Taking a player off for 5 mins would prove very insignificant IMO.

What FIFA needs to do is realize that one ref who, is usually not as fit as the players he is officiating, is not enough. I think two on field refs are required as well as the two linesmen. Each on field ref will responsible for managing half of the field. They would never have to cross the centre line. I think this would help getting the officials into the right positions quicker to make a correct call rather than guessing what he should do from 40 yrads away.

And since were on the subject of diving and what not... I would like for it to be promoted to scrap this unwritten rule of "Fair Play." It drives me insane when an attacker is beat and goes to ground and rolls around forever and ever, while the opposing team in the middle of a dangerous counter attack. Its almost assumed, as if were written somewhere, that the ball has to be played out. It drives me even more crazy when players fight over it... poor babies... If your teammate went down and is hurt the onus should be on your team to win the ball back, play it out and then have the opposing team throw it back to you, instead of bitching about it.

*Deep Breath* Rant over!
Martha

Do you think that would work, dean? The clubs are so damn powerful I can't imagine they'd be willing to let something like that stand, particularly -- as Brian pointed out -- given the dire consequences of a mistake. What about a red given after the match, ala Adriano's suspension last season (which, even as an Inter fan, I thought was FANTASTIC, and the first encouraging sign of true enforcement we've seen in ages). Would that work, in your mind, or no?
dean g

I'm also not sold on the idea of a sin bin. What needs to happen is when the ref see's a player dive an automatic red card needs to be shown. A yellow card is not enough of a deterrant to stop play acting. The problem is many refs seem scared to book players for diving. Adriano's dive against Roma at the end of last season was pathetic but serie a officials rightly suspended him after reveiwing the replay post match. A straight red card if the ref see's it and action from the league if the ref misses it is the answer.
Brian

The only way this idea would work is if the act (a.k.a. diving, faking injury, cheap shot, etc) was identified after the match and by 'a fifth official'. Minimum punishments should be determined and set in stone prior with the option to escalate depending on the severity or the effect the act has upon the match. I definitely think a one game suspension should be the lowest amount for diving with it at least doubling (1 to 2 games, 2 to 4, etc) with each accumulating offense during a season.

The 'penalty box' approach during a match is really stupid though. One wrong decision by a ref can easily cost a team a match.