Football. It's a beautiful game but it's got a dark, murderous heart. If only the vile cynicism could be extracted from the game, football's beautiful poetic heart could fully blossom. Over the years, the powers that that be have trialed all kinds of ideas and incentives to get footballers to stop deceiving refs and cheating, but none of them is dumber than the introduction of the 'green card', which Serie B is set to trial soon.
According to the Daily Mail, Serie B's referees will soon be given a 'green card', which can be dished out to player who've committed some sporting act, like kicking a ball out of play when a player is hurt.
The card will be brandished following incidents of decency but will have no actual effect on the game itself. Instead the green carded players will be added a 'do-gooders' list. It'll be a refereee's version of a pat on the back.
We're all for positive reinforcement here at Balls.ie, but if the people who run Italian football think of a symbolic reward for doing something nice will have any effect of removing cynicism from the game, well, they've got another thing coming. It's possible the green card will even discourage players from doing the right thing as they'll be afraid of coming off as the teacher's pet.
