The FA has announced that 32 grassroots competitions that will trial sin bins during the 2017-18 season, three of those being County Women’s Leagues.
As many as 130 grassroots leagues registered an interest in the pilot scheme and a mixture of male, female, adult, youth, Saturday and Sunday leagues across the country have been chosen to take part.
The Durham, Gloucestershire and Midwest Counties were the women’s leagues selected for trials of the temporary dismissals.
The scheme was originally conceived following a decision by the International Football Association Board [IFAB] which gave National Associations the ability to implement sin bins at grassroots level.
Whilst given discretion 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.
It is anticipated that the pilot scheme will deal with misconduct on the day, result in fewer cautions for dissent overall and improve match-day experiences, not only for referees, but for all involved in the game.
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.”
Photo – TheFA via Getty Images
