Rugby - Rainbow Cup: Replacements to be allowed for players given a red card

[TheLocalYokel]

In the inaugural Rainbow Cup that involves teams from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and South Africa some experimental laws will be trialled - see linked BBC report below for details of them.

Perhaps the most controversial is the intention to replace a player sent from the field by the referee (red card) with a substitute. There will have to be an interval of 20 minutes though between the departing red-carded player and the appearance of the substitute.

I presume a yellow card will still mean a ten minute banishment from the field which in effect means a red card is a 20-minute banishment in the sense that the team will be a player light for that period but no longer.

It would seem that if a team has more than one red-carded player a substitute can replace each one. What happens if a team has already used all its replacements in the normal course of the match doesn't seem clear.

I have serious doubts about the morality of this. It's almost an encouragement to indulge in foul play if a situation is desperate in an important match, knowing the the team itself won't be a player short for the entirety of the remainder of the game, unless there are 20 minutes or less to play. In football the comment that a player given a yellow card 'took one for the team' when deliberately indulging in unfair play is regularly espoused by commentators. I detest that. It makes a cheat's actions seem noble.

Many years ago sending a player off in rugby union was very rare and a referee was reluctant to do it knowing the opprobrium that would be silently brought down on his head by the rugby establishment. I once read a book about the game of rugby union where the situation was put like this: a chap is a bit of a bounder to indulge in unfair play but a referee is a bigger bounder if he sends a chap off for doing so.

According to the BBC report these experimental laws including the watering down of red cards has been tried in some domestic competitions New Zealand Australia .

Red card replacements for Rainbow Cup

Teams in the inaugural Rainbow Cup will be able to replace dismissed players under trial laws being brought in for the tournament.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Jerry]

Daft idea. A red card should mean the player can't be replaced for the duration of the game to reflect the seriousness of the offence.
I don't believe that the South African teams are participating now due to COVID-19 restrictions.

 

[JENNYJET]

One could look at it another way, for the game only, replace the missing player with a replacement to maintain equilibrium but the offending player be banned on a sliding scale according to severity of offences. Chaps need to be aware that actions have consequences in a physical game as is Rugby. Totting up infractions does not have the necessary weight of distress to the player as a withdrawal of playing time and loss of contractual payments and match fitness and loss of team place!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

One could look at it another way, for the game only, replace the missing player with a replacement to maintain equilibrium but the offending player be banned on a sliding scale according to severity of offences. Chaps need to be aware that actions have consequences in a physical game as is Rugby. Totting up infractions does not have the necessary weight of distress to the player as a withdrawal of playing time and loss of contractual payments and match fitness and loss of team place!

It's certainly an alternative view but not one that finds any empathy from me.

Players who are red-carded already face sanctions according to the severity of the offence, which usually means a ban for a number of subsequent matches.

 

[JENNYJET]

When I was little, when a player was dismissed the field of play he was merely gestured by the official towards the dressing room. Cards came later, possibly for media benefit or entertainment value. One could remove cards or add to them. Maybe a blue card for a blood replacement or striped card for penalty kick or the Rugby equivalent and as it is the Rainbow Cup, the Rainbow nation should attend if they initiated it!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When I was little, when a player was dismissed the field of play he was merely gestured by the official towards the dressing room. Cards came later, possibly for media benefit or entertainment value. One could remove cards or add to them. Maybe a blue card for a blood replacement or striped card for penalty kick or the Rugby equivalent and as it is the Rainbow Cup, the Rainbow nation should attend if they initiated it!

Red and yellow cards began with football in an attempt to clarify refereeing decisions where a language barrier intruded. A former English international referee, the late Ken Aston, is credited with the idea. Before the introduction of coloured cards referees cautioned players by 'taking their name' and writing it in their notebook. Players sent off were directed to leave the pitch with the referee using his best efforts to indicate his decision to the player, usually by arm gestures.

The coloured card system was first tried out at the 1970 FIFA World Cup Finals in Mexico and was gradually introduced across European leagues in the following years, with the Football League adopting the idea in 1976. In the early 1980s it was thought that production of a red card was liable to inflame the crowd violence so prevalent in England in those days, so the FA suspended the system within its jurisdiction for a few years until FIFA mandated that the system would be compulsory worldwide.

Rugby Union adopted the card system in 1995 and many sports use their own version of the coloured card system these days.