Australia are planning to try out yellow and red cards for coaches, in an attempt to improve coaches attitudes on the touchline.

The new measures will be brought in starting this weekend in the A-League, the top tier in the country. A-League head Greg O’Rourke explained (via WorldSoccerTalk.com): “Referees already have a process which is by way of conversation to coaches to warn them before removing them from the technical area after poor behaviour.

“Essentially, this trial will visualise those steps and as such better communicate to fans that the referees are giving the coaches and others formal warnings.”

Yellow cards will be given for dissent, provocative gestures or entering the opposition technical area, whilst red cards will be given for kicking or throwing water bottles, abusive language, spitting, holding up the game by holding the ball or obstructing a player, among other things.

Personally, I think this is a good move, and assuming the trial goes well I’d like to see it introduced in the Premier League as well.

Having clear guidelines about what gets you a yellow or red card will make it easier to justify sending off a coach breaching the rules, and make it more clear to the coaches what those rules are.

Ideally, this would cut down the amount of nonsense we see on the sidelines every week, or at least we’d see some sort of obvious punishment for it.

Also, fans will be able to see when a coach has been sent off, or if he’s been booked, so they’ll better understand what’s going on as well.

Often fans get quite frustrated if a referee stops play to talk to a manager but doesn’t send him to the stands, so this would help let supporters know that some form of action has been taken.