Walking Football: Sin Bin Rules

Temporary Timed Suspensions

• A player shown a blue card is temporarily suspended from play for between 2-5 minutes.
• The length of the suspension is set by the competition before the match.
• A player temporarily suspended must leave the playing area and remain in a designated 'sin bin' area.
• Separate 'sin bin' areas should be identified for each team.
• If no designated 'sin bin' areas are provided, suspended players should remain in the area where they can be seen by the referee and adjacent to team officials and substitutes.
• A player will be informed by the referee or match official when their temporary suspension has ended.

Sending-Off Offences

• A player is sent off and shown the red card for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting or biting, using offensive language, or receiving a second blue/yellow card in the same match.
• A player sent off may not take any further part in the match nor sit on the substitutes' bench.

Free Kicks

• Indirect free kicks are awarded to the opposing team for certain offences.
• Match officials should employ the use of temporary timed suspensions (blue cards) in all cases traditionally regarded as cautionable offences.
• The options for a match official imposing disciplinary sanctions are: issuing a blue card and temporarily suspending a player from play, or issuing a red card and permanently excluding a player from play.

Other Offences

• A player can be temporarily suspended for failing to respect the required distance when play is restarted, entering or re-entering the playing area without permission, deliberately leaving the playing area without permission, or denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
• A player can be sent off for serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting or biting, using offensive language, or receiving a second blue/yellow card in the same match.