Any player who waves an imaginary card in an attempt to get an opponent booked
will be booked themselves, UEFA have ruled. Referees have also been ordered to clamp down on dissent, and to book at least
one player if they are surrounded by a group.
The new rules come into immediate effect for this
weekend’s Euro 2008 qualifiers.
UEFA said they have asked match officials to caution players in the case of the following offences:
1 Waving of imaginary card to have an opponent booked.
2 Crowding around the referee – at least one player should be cautioned, and
not only the initiator.
3 Dissent by gesture or running towards to referee.
I have a problem with No. 2 – how should a referee decide which player in a group to book? What if he randomly books a player who is already on a yellow – that player would then have to be sent off. A bit unclear. I agree wholeheartedly with No. 1 though. Brandishing imaginary cards is a nasty habit (are you listening, Portugal?) and hopefully this rule will eliminate it swiftly.