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Romania soccer introduces black card to 'combat abusive behaviour' from parents
- shpx 3d agoYou can't start doing this, the only way it ends is with a full rainbow deck of cards that the referee has to spend 5 minutes digging through every time someone gets tripped.
- xandrius 3d agoDid you really pull the "slippery slope" on a change for children football matches to safeguarding them from abuse from spectators?
- sandy_ilands 3d ago[flagged]
- sippingabonedry 3d ago[flagged]
- bonoboTP 3d agoThis is Romania, not the US.
- afavour 3d agoIt’s almost as if there isn’t very much in common between Romanian youth soccer and US software development
- red_admiral 3d agoAlso, black cards already exist in other sports: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penalty_card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penalty_card
- applfanboysbgon 3d ago> The black card being brandished will be the final part of a three-step process. In the first instance, the referee will temporarily suspend the match and ask coaches to speak directly to its team’s supporters and parents, while an announcement will also be communicated to supporters should a public address system be available. > Should the behaviour continue, the referee will suspend the match for 10 minutes and send the teams off the pitch to their dressing room while once again asking coaches to attempt to de-escalate the behaviour of those in the stands. > The FRF then detail the process behind using the black card as the final step: “If abusive behaviour persists after play resumes, the referee blows the final whistle. The match is permanently abandoned and cannot be resumed.” Why is the remedy not simply ejecting the offenders? They get three chances to cancel the game, with the entirety of the punishments being towards people who did nothing wrong?
- mbreese 3d agoThis is a common misconception. The referee has no control over who is in the stands - they are “outside agents”. Many people think that the referee can eject a spectator, but they can’t. The referee only has authority over the players and coaches. This is why the first remedy is to ask the coaches to get their parents under control. In general, if the abuse continues, the coach can be carded as that’s the only person the ref can discipline.
- Fred27 3d agoIf it's anything like the UK then it's likely the games are played in a public space like a park, so it might not be possible to eject the parent.
- lacunary 3d agoI don't buy it. You can kick someone out of a park for not following the rules of the park. The refs just need to be empowered.
- badgersnake 3d agoThere is nobody to do that. And nobody to make sure they don’t just come straight back.
- layer8 3d agoActual source article: https://www.frf.ro/en/frf-introduces-the-black-card-to-combat-abusive-behavior-in-youth-football/ https://www.frf.ro/en/frf-introduces-the-black-card-to-comba...
- layer8 3d agohttps://archive.ph/o4V1W https://archive.ph/o4V1W
- hakunin 3d agoI wonder how would this work in terms of fairness to the team that's likely to win. If a match is abandoned, what does it mean for progressing in a tournament, etc. Could there be a perverse incentive to cause a black card to abort a lost game? I'm sure this has all been thought through, but the article doesn't seem to say anything about it.
- itsmartapuntocm 3d agoI would assume it’s treated as if the team of the offending parent has abandoned the match.
- daveguy 3d agoThis makes more sense. Automatic loss for the offending parent.
- wizzwizz4 3d agoIn which case, abusive parents can use the rule to retaliate against their children. Never define a rule that gives bad actors power to dictate policy. (Note: this criticism doesn't seem to apply to the actual rule.)
- qsort 3d agoQuoting from the official website: >>>>>> The new procedure targets inappropriate behavior by parents and spectators directed at children, coaching staff members, referees, match officials, or other parents and spectators. This includes, but is not limited to: Verbal abuse (insults or profanity), as well as physical assault or shoving of one’s own children; Verbal abuse, physical assault, or shoving of staff members of one’s own team; Verbal abuse, physical assault, or shoving of players or staff members of the opposing team; Continuous challenging, verbal abuse, physical assault, or shoving of referees and match officials; Verbal or physical altercations with other parents or spectators. <<<<<< If that's the situation in, and it can't be stressed enough, a children soccer game, then yes, abandoning the match is probably the right choice. I assume they are only defining a formal procedure for practices that already exist.
- nekusar 3d agoNew way to bully unlocked: join as spectator and throw slurs to force game closure. In reality, the game needs paused, and to forcably eject bad actors, then resume game.
- Someone 3d agoFTA: “The black card being brandished will be the final part of a three-step process. In the first instance, the referee will temporarily suspend the match and ask coaches to speak directly to its team’s supporters and parents, while an announcement will also be communicated to supporters should a public address system be available.” So, that’s exactly what step one of this is: a signal to the crowd “behave yourself/make the bad actors behave themselves”.
- lucianmarin 3d agoBasically a red card for spectators. Not sure why it is black.
- uncivilized 3d agoDid you read the article? The card stops play and can be used to end the match if abuse continues.
- daveguy 3d agoResult is a permanent cancellation? Does that mean the match is nullified or the winner at the time wins? Either way, one team could draw a strategic black card. Seems like cancellation of the match is not the correct outcome. What about penalizing the harassing team? A red card result for the team (down a player for the next game). This seems like an odd way to handle abusive behavior from parents. Abandoning the current game may be good if parents are behaving that way, but there needs to be a serious consequence for the parent's team too. Otherwise it will just be another tool.
- Someone 3d agoFor other kinds of match cancellations with an offending party (example: having too many players sent off), the offending party automatically loses. I expect it to be the same here, with the referee deciding who the offending party is.
- derefr 3d agoWhy are you assuming abuse by parents is solely being targeted at the opposing team’s players? Parents may just as well be shouting at their own kid for what they see as “sub-optimal” play, and at their kid’s teammates for what they see as “getting in their kid’s way.”
- jeffrallen 3d agoThe attitudes and behaviors at my son's U9 matches in Switzerland are so distasteful I started inventing excuses to not go until eventually my wife went to a tournament. She came home and said, "so that's why you don't want to go any more, huh?" Youth football is a plague on children. My other children were smart enough to choose tennis and horses. I'm counting the games until my son realizes football is cesspool and asks to do literally anything else.