They may be more used to issuing warnings and penalties, but judges in Italy's Serie B division are set to make professional football history by rewarding players for sportsmanship.Along with the yellow cards used to caution a player after a foul(犯规) and the frightening red card signaling a player's removal, judges in Italy's second division will now also carry green cards.
"It's all about rewarding the players who have stood out from the rest through positive acts in the game, and towards sport in general," Serie B president Andrea Abodi said.
The initiative has been tested in Italy's junior ranks and will appear in professional football for the first time when Serie B kicks off this weekend.
Players who, for example, stop playing to allow officials to attend to an injured opponent or who admit to fouls when none were signaled would be qualified for a green card. At the end of the season, the green cards are counted and the most sporting players will be awarded a prize that has yet to be determined.
In a game where players regularly try to hoodwink officials by taking dives in the penalty area and overplaying the seriousness of fouls to have opponents punished, true sportsmanship is rarely in evidence.But if there was to be a winner of the green card award in recent years, it would have gone to Aaron Hunt.During an important game between two football clubs Nurnberg and Bremen in Germany’s Division A League in 2014, the judge awarded a penalty to Bremen after Hunt tripped in the box.Hunt got back up, stated to the judge he had not been fouled and the penalty was canceled. At the end, despite Bremen's 2-0 win, Nurnberg players lined up to shake Hunt's hand.
The idea of different colored cards in football is not new.UEFA president Michel Platini, a candidate for the presidency of FIFA, has previously advocated the use of white cards. They would allow judges to limit the use of yellow cards by sending players off temporarily.
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