Blue Cards: Is this the end of Football as we know it?

A game where the Referees still find the Offside rule confusing at every minute of the day, is set to introduce a more complicated rule with the Blue Cards introduction; the irony couldn’t be any more paradoxical.

Blue Cards are set to be introduced into the game of football as a minor punishment for players who commit cynical fouls and dissent on the pitch. However, before its introduction, it is reported to be trialed according to Telegraph football.

Following this report, there have been mixed reactions from fans questioning its importance or significance to a game that the world has developed great interests in.

Football many would argue has lost its shock and dramatic flare that the sport was known for prior to the 21st century. In fact, the unexpected outcomes that players treat spectators to, created its own entertainment that was separate from the fun of seeing goals scored. The drama, they call it, is what fans will live to talk about years after the game ended.

However, the more time passes and more rules get introduced into the sport, the game of passion and emotion has grown to become something of a simulation.

The emotions have been taken out from it, to the extent that players and spectators now have to wait for minutes to be certain that a goal was scored or that a player would be sent off for a foul,

Decisions by referees become more and more controversial that questions over the importance of VAR emerges if the Video Assistant Referees cannot guide on-pitch match officials towards making the right calls at the right time.

Inconsistencies have either shaped the current game to take on a controversial simulation or ruined the sport in its totality.

Added to that, a new rule is set to be implemented again, with the introduction of Blue Cards whereby a player would need to be sent off for a 10-minute break if caught committing cynical fouls or for dissent.

In essence, this takes out the significance of the red card and a yellow card from the sport, considering confusions will have to come into play concerning where Red Cards or Yellow Cards will need implementation in.

Would a player still be given a yellow for pulling the shirt of another player or a red be given for a poor challenge? Would time continually be wasted to determine what decision to take between handing players a red, a yellow or the blue cards?

According to the speculated rule book, the Blue Cards are intended to send the player out from the field of play for 10-minutes if they commit cynical fouls or dissent before they are then introduced into the field of play again. Then one has to wonder if as time goes on if this rule does not end up becoming a simulation to give the team that goes 1-man down for 10-minutes the advantage over its opponent.

A lot can change off field in 10-minutes, whereby the manager and player can decide a different approach that changes the game to the detriment of the opposition who in those 10-minutes will be faced with the challenge of breaking down 10-men who would be okay with countering whatever is thrown at them within that time frame.

There are lots of questions that will come up with the introduction of Blue Cards into the game, but the most important is if it will improve football for the better.