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Referee shows first green card in CONIFA World Football Cup match

On Saturday, CONIFA World Football Cup observed the first green card on the field.

CONIFA

Bengaluru, June 4: On Saturday, CONIFA World Football Cup observed the first green card on the field. It was the game between Padania and Tuvalu at Haringey's Coles Park (London) where the referee Raymond Mashamba brought out that special card for twice.

The 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup is the third edition of this international tournament that has been organised by CONIFA for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA. In this third edition, the green card has been introduced for the first time in this tournament.

While they also use the yellow and red cards for the several levels of disciplinary actions, green card has been introduced for those who commit an offence between the levels of a red and yellow card.

According to the CONIFA rules, "a player who receives a green card must leave the field of play immediately but can be replaced if his team have not used all of their substitutes. A player receiving a green card is not excluded from his team's next match."

While the 2018 edition kicked off on May 31, the first green card was shown on day 2 (June 2) during the encounter between Padania and Tuvalu where Padania thrashed their opponents by 8-0. In the second half of that game, referee Raymond Mashamba showed the green card first to a Tuvalu midfielder and then to the Padania's Stefano Baldan.

The tournament organiser Paul Watson said, according to Sky Sports, "We'd really like to clamp down on the dissent problem. Football has a problem with the lack of respect for referees.

"That's not to say that isn't also the case in CONIFA games - the players in our tournament still have those traits. But it would be nice that, instead of it being ignored and therefore in a way condoned, it shouldn't necessarily cost someone their chance to play at this tournament, if they just lose their cool."

CONIFA's Asia President Jens Jockel has also supported the new disciplinary card stating, according to Sky Sports, "We have had some minor problems in the past, with some red cards at the end of a game - mostly when teams realised they can't keep up and find themselves losing heavily with 10 minutes left.

"It's a really good idea of how to sanction things that might not be worthy of a red card. More like personal mistakes - using swear words, disrespecting spectators and coaches and so on. It's a perfect way to find something in between."

However, the green card is not a very new idea in the world football stage. More than two years ago, the green card has been introduced in the Italian second division football league, Serie B, but it is a 'fair play’ card rather than the disciplinary card.

It is a virtual card as it can’t be seen during the game, but a player or coach can earn this card after the game if they conduct the game according to the fair play. At the end of the season, an award has been given to the player or coach who will receive the most green cards of the season.

Story first published: Monday, June 4, 2018, 15:24 [IST]
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