In his new book "Parlons Football," which translates to "Let's Talk Football," UEFA president Michel Platini has proposed the introduction of a white-card punishment for players who protest excessively.
Under Platini's proposal, a white-card booking would be handed down to any player deemed to have berated or challenged a referee's decision, and earn a 10-minute "sin bin" "timeout" before the player is allowed to return to action.
Platini believes that the act of players "challenging the referee" has spread "like a true epidemic in football."
In 2014, Major League Soccer became one of the first leagues worldwide to hand out retroactive punishments to teams and/or players for persistently engaging in "mass confrontation."
Mass confrontation is "concerted efforts of three or more players towards an official or an opposing member of another team," as explained by Nelson Rodriguez, MLS Executive Vice President of Competition and Game Operations, when the infraction was added to the list of punishable offenses in March.
In the book, Platini also proposes two additional substitutions be made available to each team during the course of a match, for a total of five.
What do you think? Excessive protesting and mass confrontation is certainly a problem in the modern game, but is a white-card booking and "timeout" the proper method to eradicate it?
