Another week, another English Red Card.

The highly opinionated folks on the old sub-reddit from the North used to regularly claim that the Southern Hemisphere was too soft on cards (for various reasons, not carding enough, then the 20 minute red) and that the stricter Northern Hemisphere processes would be an advantage as time went on as they would be so used to it they wouldn’t be doing these bad things anymore.

I think the truth is that the whole scheme of trying to reduce the tackle height without legislating to define a lower legal tackle was always going to be a bad approach in a professional era where coaches and teams will push all of the rules to the limit. The upcoming rule changes in various competitions that legislate a legal tackle height and force it much lower than the head need to be applied to the professional game as soon as possible.