The FA have confirmed 32 step 7 leagues will trial Temporary Dismissals or ‘sin bins’ for the 2017/18 season – but the Thames Valley Premier League is not one of them.
This means the Football Association’s pilot scheme to improve discipline in football won’t be seen in Berkshire, at least this season.
A press release on the FA website stated: ‘Whilst given discretion [by IFAB] whether to use the scheme for all cautions, or selected cautions, The FA chose to focus on matters of dissent, which amounted to 25 per cent of all cautions during the 2016-17 season and directly supports the Respect programme.’
The idea behind the sin bin is to see a player cautioned for dissent required to leave the playing area for 10 minutes.
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Mark Ives, FA head of judicial services, said: “I am encouraged by the level of enthusiasm from County FA’s, leagues, clubs and referees and in their collective commitment to make a difference to our great game at a local level.
“I look forward to seeing a positive impact during the course of the season.”
The closest league trialling sin bins will be the Surrey Primary Youth League. You can see the full list and press release on the FA website here.
When the scheme was announced in May a referee contacted us anonymously and said: “In general though I’m for it. I hope it does eradicate issues referees already have. I had a goalkeeper all game on my final league game of the season make comments before I eventually cautioned him. If I had this power I may have cautioned him a bit earlier and given him a time out.”
