Ex-Spurs man O’Hara fuming with ‘disgraceful’ proposed rule change – ‘treating players like children’ | OneFootball

Jamie O'Hara hits out at proposed rule change.

Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara thinks the introduction of sin-bins in football would see players being “treated like children”.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that sin-bins are set to be trialled in professional games. This rule change would allow referees to give out an alternative punishment to players who commit cynical and professional fouls.

This proposal would see players being made to spend ten minutes in a sin-bin on suitable occasions and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) are said to be in the process of identifying “which levels are best to test”.

Arsenal icon Paul Merson has already expressed his anger at this “pathetic” proposal and O’Hara is also against the idea.

The ex-Tottenham centre-midfielder thinks “lawmakers are ruining football” and it would be an “absolute disgrace” if sin-bins are introduced.

“The sin-bin idea is a load of old rubbish, and I’m trying very hard not to swear,” O’Hara said in an interview with Grosvenor Sport.

“The lawmakers are ruining football, they’re ruining the beautiful game that we all love and are obsessed with; the best game in the world. They brought in VAR, which has absolutely ruined the game for the spectator, for the fans, for the managers and players, and now they’re talking about sin-bins? What are we, kids? It’s an absolute disgrace, treating players like Mickey Mouse schoolchildren.

“It’s a load of old crap. It’s the bigwigs up top thinking of things we can do to make the game better, but they’re ruining the game. The game was great because it wasn’t perfect. That’s what made football great and now all they are doing is making it worse. Every single time they do something, they make it worse.

“You’ll have sinbinned players sitting on the side for 10 minutes, they’re going to get cold so they’re going to need to warm up again! You’re going to see players sitting on the sidelines on an exercise bike having to keep warm! It’s a joke, get rid of it. They’re a disgrace, they all need sacking. What are we going to see next?

“How about the referees start getting more decisions right? How about we get some better referees and we might get some decent football matches again. What are you going to do, take a player off like a kid and leave him on the sidelines? It’s not rugby, so why are we trying to take things from rugby?”

O’Hara later argued that footballers are currently being “turned into robots” as referees “don’t know how to deal with them”.

“Look what VAR has done to the game, it’s ruined it,” O’Hara added. “I’m sick of it. As a football fan and a pundit, having to go on and talk about this crap, it’s a joke.

“I’m sick of having to come on and talk about VAR every week, and now I’m going to have to talk about sin-bins… ‘Should he have got sinbinned for that? It cost them the game…’ What if a team have already had a player sent off and now they’re down to nine men? Give me a break. None of this stuff has been good for the game.

“Why are we always changing the rules at the top level and ruining the game? Referees don’t know how to deal with players and they make bad decisions, so they’ll come up with any kind of nonsense to put it on the players, to blame the players, who make the game what it is. They’re taking all of this away and the players are turning into robots. Everyone is turning up their noses at football now.”