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<\/p>\nSky Sports pundit Paul Merson blasted the idea of sin bins being introduced in football, calling the idea \u201cpathetic\u201d and ranting \u201cthat\u2019s not football.\u201d<\/p>\n
The International Association Board (IFAB) announced on Tuesday that the new 10 minute sin bin after receiving a yellow card will be trialled further up the football pyramid and could even reach the professional game after initial tests at grassroots level.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s believed that the introduction of sin bins will reduce the level of abuse that officials receive in the wake of Lewis Dunk\u2019s red card against Nottingham Forest after seemingly calling Anthony Taylor a \u2018f***ing b***end\u2019 with dissent punishable by being temporarily removed from the game \u2013 similar to rugby. <\/p>\n
READ MORE: Arsenal escape penalty for identical handball to Newcastle's 'proving they were robbed' <\/b><\/p>\n
READ MORE: Premier League chief calls referee Anthony Taylor 'f***ing useless' and gets banned <\/b><\/p>\n
Speaking on Sky Sports, Merson hit out at the current state of decision making by officials in the Premier League and in European competitions, claiming the decisions "aren\u2019t even hard" that the officials are getting "horribly wrong".<\/p>\n
The former Arsenal man spoke about the success that technology has had in rugby but claimed that the sin bin wouldn\u2019t work to the same effect in football. He said: \u201cSo they want to bring in sin bins. Sin bins? Pathetic.<\/p>\n
What is your opinion on sin bins being introduced in football? Let us know in the comments section.<\/i> <\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cTheir (rugby) sin bin is massive, you get a sin bin in rugby union or rugby league, you\u2019re talking seven to ten points \u2013 the game opens up. It\u2019s very rare you\u2019re not going to get majorly punished for your sin bin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn football, you just sit 10 (players) behind the ball and the game would be killed. The ball would go out and they\u2019d jog and get the ball and they\u2019d throw it in and they\u2019ll waste time and then someone else would get sin binned and someone else. Everybody would be looking at the scoreboard and they\u2019ll be going \u2018Tom\u2019s coming back on in four, so and so is coming back on in three and then what will it be then? 10 v10?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be and that\u2019s not football, they\u2019re ruining the game. It didn\u2019t have to be changed that much, we\u2019re talking about the greatest sport in the world and you\u2019re trying to change it.\u201d Merse added before he put his head into his hands: \u201cIt just drives me up the wall, we\u2019re trying to copy a sport that isn\u2019t like ours you get majorly punished, sin bins?!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Merson continued to say officials should be looking to stop those \u2018cheating\u2019 as opposed to anything else, something that he claims VAR has encouraged in a way, he added: \u201cIt\u2019s when people are cheating that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got to stop, and that\u2019s what they\u2019re not looking at.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays people are going over and if they go over and don\u2019t get a penalty it doesn\u2019t matter. But they might as well try their eye with the people upstairs (VAR) who haven\u2019t got a clue, let's be honest, they haven\u2019t got a clue. So why wouldn\u2019t you chance your arm?\u201d<\/p>\n