FIFA president rules out use of blue cards and temporary concussion subs

Published

9 months ago

March 1, 2024

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino has ruled out blue cards being shown to players sent into sin bins.

A plan had been formed by some of football’s lawmakers for a new card to join the long-standing red and yellow ones that referees can deploy.

The proposal emerged last month, with Sky News understanding that some protocols had already been prepared for release.

Sin bins are currently only used at the lower levels of grassroots football, with players sent into them for 10 minutes for dissent.

But Mr Infantino rejected the idea of blue cards being used in the professional game.

Speaking in Scotland, ahead of Saturday’s meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) at Loch Lomond, he said: “FIFA is completely opposed to blue cards.

“Red card to the blue card. No way. You have to be serious.

“We are always open at IFAB, at FIFA, to look into ideas and proposals… but once you look at it you also have to protect the game, the essence of the game, the tradition of the game.

“There is no blue card.”

The world governing body holds four of the eight votes on IFAB, which is holding its 138th annual meeting this weekend. The other votes are held by the four British nations.

Mr Infantino also dismissed calls for temporary concussion substitutes, following a request from players’ unions concerned about long-term brain damage caused by head injuries.

FIFA’s preference is for teams to make an extra permanent substitution to replace players suspected of having a concussion.

Mr Infantino said: “We studied it and medical experts are saying it is simply impossible in a few minutes to be able to determine whether there has been a concussion, whether concussion is serious or not.

“And that’s why, in case of a suspected concussion, the player has to be substituted.

“If you want to care about the health of the player, then the players go out and another player comes in, and that’s the end of it.

“And this would protect the player. All the rest is not protecting the heads of players, just making some PR announcements.”

Football’s law-making body IFAB is being sued by a group of former players in the UK who allege they suffered brain injuries from playing football and authorities failed to take reasonable action to protect them from repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows.

A spokesman for the Professional Footballers’ Association told Sky News: “It sends a terrible message about the game’s priorities when IFAB will take seriously the idea of removing a player for 10 minutes for dissent, but oppose it if the player might be suffering from concussion.

“Leagues and unions are aligned in the view that temporary concussion subs are a positive step for player welfare.

“As the game’s rule makers, IFAB should reflect that by allowing trials – not stand in their way.”

Last year a Swedish study found footballers are 50% more likely to develop dementia than the rest of the population.

But goalkeepers – who rarely head the ball – had no increased risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia.

This “support(ed) the hypothesis that mild head impacts sustained when heading the ball could explain the increased risk in outfield players”, the study concluded.

World

Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for ‘high-IQ revolutionaries’ will be unpaid

Published

3 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Elon Musk hints 80-hour-a-week DOGE job for 'high-IQ revolutionaries' will be unpaid

“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.

The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.

The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.

“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.

“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.

“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”

In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.

“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.

“What a great deal!”

When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”

World

At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

3 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.

The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.

All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.

Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.

It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.

World

At least 10 dead after fire rips through retirement home in Spain

Published

9 hours ago

November 15, 2024

admin

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.

A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.

They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.

Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.

The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.