Although it is not yet known what it is, it is very likely that in the near future, players will be punished for this action. That is the proposal of the International Federation of Association Football (IFAB). This is said to be a reaction to the recent case of Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica) being accused of racial discrimination against Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid).
There is a very common thing in life that is "what cannot be managed is forbidden". It can be seen that, from the perspective of IFAB, it is impossible to manage what players say behind their hands or the back of their shirt, so the simplest thing is to ban it.
In fact, it is not that simple. With modern football, in addition to 22 players and 1 ball, there are dozens of high-quality cameras, thousands of smartphones and borderless social networking systems always ready to exaggerate every moment. Therefore, anything that is uttered from the mouth can be recorded, spread and as evidence for disciplinary decisions or online jokes.
But isn't everyone and always that act of covering their mouth negative? In a multilingual world, in a noisy and stressful environment, sometimes a word that sounds vaguely misunderstood will become serious. So, from the perspective of managers, what should they do?
Prohibiting is too simple. However, if you choose to prohibit absolutely, that is the way to solve the "formal" part without touching the "root". Because words that are offensive, discriminatory or verbally violent do not disappear just because the mouth is no longer covered. It only switches to other ways of expression, such as right in the stands or going on social networks to express prejudices about gender, appearance, region, race.
Therefore, the solution needs a coordination mechanism. Sound monitoring technology, communication culture education for players, unified awareness between parties... When the standards of conduct are clarified, negative behavior will be handled directly, instead of suspicion, and the handling is also based on speculation.
