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On the back of Martin Demichelis’s red card against Barcelona and a similar decision during Arsenal’s game against Bayern Munich, there were talks that the triple punishment might be rescinded. However, even a request from UEFA to change the so-called triple punishment rule couldn’t help it from being rejected by The International Football Association Board (IFAB), soccer’s law-making body.
Before we move any further, let me just explain what the so-called triple punishment rule is. It occurs when a defender or goalkeeper denies an attacker a clear scoring opportunity in the penalty box. If such a foul occurs, the person who committed the foul is sent off and concedes a penalty. To add insult to injury, the player also has to serve an automatic one-match suspension.
All the hoopla has been about this rule, in the wake of recent dismissals in the Champions League. Some argue that this decision completely kills the game, whilst others say that it prevents the defender or goalkeeper, especially the latter, from taking out his opponent. IFAB said on Saturday that it was concerned about changing the rule for fear of it opening a can of worms.
The issue was only brought to the IFAB after UEFA had written asking for the rule to be changed. FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said “Again, there was a lot of discussion and it was not approved,” before adding that IFAB is going to send the matter to its two specialist panels for further debate.
A board member and Chief executive of Scottish FA, Stewart Regan told reporters “We don’t want to flip back to where we were before where some goalkeepers knew that if they could not be sent off, they would simply take out the attacker.”
Regan also added “We know that is something the football community feel really strongly about. It will make such an impact on the game of football if it’s changed, we have got to get it right.”
Plenty of board members were against the proposal as they believed that it would only led to a lot more cynical fouling than what is already present. Alex Horne, another board member and chief executive of the English FA said “A lot of us felt that taking UEFA’s wording would reopen the door for cynical foul.”
Horne also added, “That is not to say we don’t listen, we don’t understand. Maybe we just need to re-educate people about why it was introduced in the first place.”
Another major topic of discussion was the use of video technology, which, Valcke said had been ruled out altogether.
“There is a risk that using the video will change the nature of the game and maybe we will reach the day when the referee will ask one day to stop the game to make sure he has made the right decision,” said Valcke.
“The use of video will not be in the game apart from goal line technology.”
