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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Dear Greg Dyke, how to stop the bad boys.

Bumped into you recently in your alter ego of Chancellor of York University when you handed out a degree to my son, but you didn't have time to hear me outline the solution to the problem of stroppy players swarming around referees to try and get an opponent sent off or to try and discombobulate a ref so much that he forgets to send off their teammate.

For there is certainly a solution, and it's a relatively simple one. Follow my advice and I confidently predict that the problem will have disappeared within the first few games of the new season. What's more, you don't need to get this plan approved by anyone as you'll simply be enforcing the laws of the game.
So, this is how to do it. Oh and buy the way, the tactic doesn't work. It doesn't really worry refs to see players getting hot under the collar and over-acting. They do it all the time anyway. Touching a referee is another thing altogether. Straight Red.

Let's introduce it at the start of the new season. In July, when elite players return from their sun-drenched holidays, referees should visit training grounds to explain that the laws of the game will be correctly applied from the start of the new season. This means that surrounding the referee to protest at a decision will result in a yellow card for as many players as the ref sees fit to book. Presuming that this takes place at a difficult time for the referee, when he probably has a key decision to make, he will be able to call upon his assistants to help to identify the miscreants, just as they do already in case of mass confrontations. Assistants or the Fourth Official can identify those who charged in excitedly and help the ref.
Privately, referees should be told that it doesn't matter too much who they book, just as long as they're part of the protest movement.
I predict with some confidence that such behaviour will disappear from the canon of footballing (mis)behaviour within a few weeks. Players will soon accept the pointlessness of a yellow card for a decision that the referee has already taken. Coaches who already give tacit approval to such bad behaviour will realise the players will just be penalising themselves as they stack up the yellows and suspensions come thick and fast.
It's not difficult for the ref. He can take advice from his assistants if he wants to. Simply wave the card with abandon. It doesn't really matter if one player is particularly badly behaved. Just book him and set the example. And just keep booking if they don't stop.
Go on, give it a try!

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