UEFA to Crack Down on Imaginary Card Waving

Call it the Cristiano Ronaldo rule or anti-mime legislation. UEFA announced today that it is dead serious about getting rid of that scourge known as players waving imaginary cards at referees in order to get their opponents in trouble.

“UEFA is determined to stop dissent and the harassment of referees and wishes to make players and team officials aware that referees in all UEFA competitions will punish such confrontations on the pitch appropriately.”

In addition to no longer seeing players do their best referee imitations, the new enforcement will likely decrease the number of times a mob of angry players surround a referee threatening to take him to a gallows. Under the new emphasis, at least one player in each mob will be shown a card.

All of this is common sense, but you can bet that it is going to take time for players brought up in an era of whining and complaining to get used to the rules actually being enforced. We’ll get our first look at how they do this weekend when a slew of Euro 2008 qualifiers are played.

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Category: Europe