Football: Uefa president Platini wants to introduce 'white card' and sin-bin

Uefa president Michel Platini says he wants to see the sin bin introduced in football, but only to combat back-chat from players. -- PHOTO: AFP
Uefa president Michel Platini says he wants to see the sin bin introduced in football, but only to combat back-chat from players. -- PHOTO: AFP

PARIS (AFP) - Uefa president Michel Platini says he wants to see the sin bin introduced in football, but only to combat back-chat from players.

In his book "Parlons Football" (talking about football), released on Thursday, Platini, a former France international midfield star, espouses the idea of creating a white card, to go alongside the existing red and yellow ones, to be used specifically to send players to the sin bin if they talk back to referees.

He says the move would help fight against the "craze of contesting the referee" which has become "a veritable epidemic in football".

He said the white card would be followed by a 10-minute spell on the sidelines.

"It should not be confused in any way with the yellow card, which for its part is dedicated to fouls within the game," added the 59-year-old Frenchman, a legend in his country due to his feats as a player in the 1970s and 1980s.

The measure was one of a number proposed by Platini in his book, including increasing the amount of substitutes allowed during games from three to five.

He said he wanted to allow "two changes at half time while maintaining the possibility to make three more during the course of the match".

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