During the last 50 years, the way football is played has changed, equipment has changed (balls and boots) but the RULES referees must apply have virtually remained the same.
The effect of not modernising football rules, was seen in France last Sunday in the match Paris vs. Marseille : 11 yellow cards were issued for "minor" fouls.
Neymar, a gifted player, was continually hounded throughout the 79 minutes he was on the pitch : in the end he was injured and obliged to leave !
BUT, only yellow cards were issued because the "fouls" were not "blatently serious attacks", just fouls of an "accidental" nature ! The reality is that a player would step on the toes of another player to hinder him !
Also, 50 years ago, the toe-caps of football boots were very hard : this helped when kicking balls which were much heavier and often caked with mud ! Footballs now are lighter and more bouncy. Football boots are also different : they are now soft and more like slippers ! These changes have made players more fragile.
Should the rules of football not take these changes into account ? Keep the red card, but instead of the yellow card, why not introduce a short time penalty for petty fouls ? This would in fact be instant justice !
This kind of penalty has been used in Ice Hockey for more than a century !
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