Professional football is set to trial sin-bins for dissent and tactical fouls, following successful trials at grassroots and youth levels.

The Telegraph report that with sin-bins working successfully at tackling dissent for many years in grassroots and youth football, new trials will see the measure introduced in elite football.

FA trials reduced instances of dissent by 38%, with over 70% of players (72%), coaches (77%), and referees (84%) reporting in surveys that they wanted to keep the new measures.

The trials have been fast-tracked amid concerns over player behaviour, though the exact details are yet to be confirmed.

Those details include whether or not to introduce an “orange card” to make it clear a player was being ordered to leave the field, or whether it’s sufficient to show a yellow and order the player to leave the field verbally.

It’s also not yet confirmed exactly which offences would be punished with a sin-bin.

There’s a desire to clamp down on cynical fouls, with the Giorgio Chiellini shirt-pull on Bukayo Saka specifically highlighted as an example. So those incidents could also be grouped with dissent in the new system.

IFAB was expected to stop short of agreeing to the new sin-bin measures on Tuesday, so the agreement to start a global trial, potentially as early as next summer, shows they’re serious about the changes.

The new measures could even be introduced in the Premier League for the 2024/25 campaign, but again, that hasn’t been confirmed just yet.

The measures might seem extreme, and they’re certainly a significant change for football, but the potential benefits are clear.

The sin-bin system works as a deterrent in other sports, it’s worked in trials in football as well, and cracking down on dissent and cynical fouls seems like an objectively good thing for the game.

There’s definitely a sense among supporters that a red card for these incidents would be too harsh, but a yellow card is often viewed as a frustratingly light punishment.

The option of a sin-bin could provide the middle ground we currently don’t have.