Forty years ago, at the start of the 1983/84 season, a rule change was to revolutionize German football. The time penalty has actually already been decided in order to “calm down the hotheads” on the pitch – but then criticism rains down. And the idea of the purple card never caught on.
“In my opinion, the referees are now hopelessly overwhelmed.” Brunswick’s President Johannes Jäcker proved he had a keen nose forty years ago with his tangible criticism. When the DFB, under strange circumstances, decided to make a far-reaching rule change in the winter of 1982, dissenting voices immediately rained down. And indeed: The time penalty was actually supposed to be introduced in the Bundesliga for the new 1983/84 season – but then it was withdrawn at the very last second.
The idea behind the rule change was probably not bad at all, as a ten-minute dismissal was intended to limit the number of red cards and give the referees more room for manoeuvre. Chairman Johannes Malka from the German Football Association said at the time: “It should be an intermediate stage between the yellow and red card. Our referees missed atonement for moderate cases between the warning and the exclusion.” But Braunschweigs Jäcker didn’t want to know anything about that: “Now they have given the already almighty referees even more power.” However, Malka was convinced of the meaning and purpose of the new rule: “The time penalty is the best way to calm hotheads in good time.”
In the winter of 1982, people had already thought about how the new punishment should be made known. The DFB wording said: “In addition to verbal notification to the player concerned, the referee must report him by raising his arm and stretching out his five fingers twice.” The voting on the “temporary dismissal” was as unusual as the idea. It took place under the most curious circumstances among the club presidents. At that time, seven club chairmen voted in favor, six against, three abstained, one was not present at the meeting, and – watch out! – Bielefeld’s President Dr. Jörg auf der Heyde left the room shortly before the vote. His explanation after the election caused amusement not only among the press representatives: “I had to go to the local shop very urgently.”
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His absence – he actually wanted to vote against – finally allowed the motion to pass successfully. However, the decision was immediately criticized within the Bundesliga and came from all sides. Professor Heinrich Hess, team doctor of the national team, saw a medical risk, especially in winter: “A heated player who sits out at ten degrees below zero and then comes back into the game risks strains and tears in the muscles.” Lautern’s “Walz von der Pfalz” Hans-Peter Briegel said with a wink: “Then we have to go onto the field with a stove.” And HSV coach Ernst Happel even saw black for his club: “We are currently leading the table with the yellow cards because we are a red rag for some referees, especially away from home. If we are followed the same way with the time penalties, I have to Replace offensive pressing with wall play.” Luckily for the league and all the critics, everything stayed the same in the end. But the topic has been simmering in the background since those days in the winter of 1982. The time penalty never completely let go of the DFB.
By the way: There was another crazy idea that was never implemented. In fact, there should be a purple card in German football. The idea behind it was that minor offenses should be punished with a dismissal – but they shouldn’t automatically result in a ban for another game. But this idea ended up back in the deep drawers of the DFB at the Otto-Fleck-Schneise in Frankfurt.