ESTORIL, Portugal (Reuters) – UEFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina has thrown his support behind the idea of implementing sin bins as a form of punishment to help curtail player’s simulation and over-zealous protesting of refereeing decisions. Speaking at the ‘Football Talks 2015’ conference in Estoril, Portugal, the former World Cup final referee who is now UEFA’s chief refereeing officer said the idea of punishing players with an enforced break on the sidelines, already popular in many sports including rugby and ice hockey, was one that was being considered by European soccer’s governing body.
In October, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed in his book ‘Parlons Football’ that ‘white cards’ could be given to players who dive to earn a foul or argue too profusely with the referee, leading to an expulsion from the match for a limited period of time rather than the current yellow and red card system.
