Chris Heard, Surrey
There has been a lot of talk about introducing a yellow and
red card system in cricket and I have fairly strong views
opposing this, it would be interesting to see what readers
think.
First and foremost, I think cricket can already pride itself on a
high level of discipline and its niche as the gentleman’s game.
Players are expected to carry themselves with a certain level of
conduct – ‘The Spirit of the Game’. As long as leagues have a
good disciplinary panel, I believe it is a case of don’t fix what
isn’t broke. Also, I believe this would move us away from an
educational and in a way self-regulated structure to a more
penal structure and send a message that we don’t trust the
players. Gamesmanship will be introduced, with players
believing they know how far they can go before a yellow card,
and it will also make umpires’ jobs harder.
Currently, if a player commits an unlawful act such as
aggression towards another player or umpire, the incident
would be dealt with after the game. If there is a good
disciplinary structure, this player will be banned and, in most
cases, this is enough to stop the player form reoffending. The
beauty of this system is that more often than not, a couple of
hours after the match, the offending player has calmed down
and recognised the error of his ways. This means that not only
can the player be punished for his behaviour, acting as a
deterrent, but also be educated and taught that this behaviour
isn’t acceptable. I feel that a yellow/red card being offered
could add fuel to the fire and could cause issues on the pitch
Answered by Mark Williams, MCC:
I agree with your final sentiment that ‘enjoyment is the
bottom line’. Five years ago I would have agreed that giving
the umpires sanctions within the game to deal with players’
misconduct was unnecessary, and that the emphasis should
be on consistent, realistic and tough penalties imposed after
the match by disciplinary committees. However, there is no
doubt from the international umpires’ survey that we have
conducted, that the attitude of the players is changing and
that levels of behaviour have deteriorated significantly in the
recreational game worldwide. There were five incidents in
English league cricket last season where there were fights
involving at least three players, and goodness knows how
many other incidents where there were single acts of
violence on the field of play. You make the point that players
should conduct themselves according to the ‘Spirit of
Cricket’ and that it doesn’t make sense to try to fix ‘what
ain’t broke’; it’s increasingly clear that in competitive
recreational cricket the players are not behaving in this way,
and that the current measures available to deal with poor
behaviour are ineffective. Does anyone really think that it is
right for a player who hits another player or umpire should
be able to stay on the pitch and win the game for his side?
Many umpires and commentators agree that there is now a
need to give the umpires some teeth. I refer you to my
response in the last issue for the details, but let me
emphasise the main points:
that could be difficult to manage. I also note here that I don’t
think the system works well in football, and I think our
discipline is of a much higher standard.
The current system promotes education prior to the season
beginning. If a league has an AGM or handbook, often there
are objective ways of measuring infringements and this can
set the tone and define what is acceptable and what isn’t. I
feel that introducing a yellow and red card system will remove
some of this, and will introduce a system that only