Written by Tomson Calland, produced for online by Holly Parkinson.

Football referees can now issue yellow cards and sentence players for 10 minutes in the sin bin for dissent, in an effort to improve communication on the field.

Football Queensland introduced the ruling after observing a successful trial period in European youth leagues.

State referee development manager David Wiebe has been overseeing the integration of this new rule.

“The culture that I’m trying to build here is one of communication with players,” says Mr Wiebe.

“We totally understand and totally get that there are some referees out there who are over-officious, so the coaching that we’ve been giving the referees is to use the sin bin, or the yellow card, as a last resort.”

James Barr plays in Brisbane’s top division and says he recognises the need for such a rule.

“I think it’s a good idea to bring in and I think the referees at the moment are just trying to find their feet and decide when they can bring it in without creating a lop-sided game,” Mr Barr says.

The football community is typically sceptical when there is any alteration to their beloved game.

Last year’s introduction of video referees and goal line technology in some leagues polarised opinions and this most recent officiating adaptation was no different.

Kristian Markovic has been coaching abroad for several years but has recently returned to football in Brisbane and had concerns regarding this new ruling.

“Can a rule really change a culture, that’s something that I’m yet to see,” says Mr Markovic.

“I would really like [the rule] to stay if there’s positive outcome at the end of it.”