ORANGE CARD TO BE INTRODUCED IN FOOTBALL
News coming out of the international football fraternity is that we will soon see the sin bin punishment we have become so used to seeing in rugby, be introduced in football. Football leagues across Europe are set to trial 10-minute sin-bins for cynical fouls (time-wasting, professional fouls, back-chatting referees to name a few) as effective “orange card”
the International Football Association Board has agreed in principle to test the measure in the Premier League. we could see this new system of punishment as soon as next season.
I personally agree with the new system of punishment. as it will curb some of the unnecessary fouls we see in football and may introduce a more disciplined approach to football for all pro players.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ORANGE CARD PUNISHMENT?
HSBC DUBAI SERIES
The Blitzboks face a tough draw at the revamped and rebranded first 2023/24 HSBC 7s stop in Dubai on the 2nd of December. The Dubai leg will be the first of 8 events on what is scheduled to be a shortened 2023/24 calendar and will feature just 12 teams as opposed to the 16 teams from previous seasons. The Dubai HSBC series will kick off on the 2nd and end on the 3rd of December. Coming off a disappointing 2022/2023 season in which they ended in 7th in the final standings, head coach Sandile Ngcobo will have to rally his troops to avoid yet another series of disappointment. Their only tournament win, coincidently, came in Dubai.
The old format consisted of four pools consisting of four teams. This weekend’s tournament format will feature just 3 pools of four teams with the top two in each pool progressing to the Cup quarter-finals. The teams finishing third move forward into ranking matches to complete the quarter-final line-up. The Blitzboks have been drawn in Pool A alongside defending series champions New Zealand , sixth-placed finishers from last season Samoa and Canada. Pool B consists of Argentina, Spain, Australia and Ireland, while Fiji, USA, France and Great Britain will duke it out in Pool C.
The Blitzboks will open their campaign against Samoa on Saturday, 2 December, kick scheduled for 08:30 (SA time)
UEFA MATCH-DAY 5 KEY FIXTURES
MANCHESTER UNITED VS GALATASARY 19:45 KICK OFF
ARSENAL VS LENS 22:00 KICK OFF
REAL MADRID VS NAPOLI 22:00 KICK OFF