IT will be a new era for amateur football players and referees in the area next season following the FA's decision to implement sin-bins for dissent at step five and below of the National League System in 2019/20.

The North West Counties League, West Lancashire League and Furness Premier League, plus the Barrow & District Junior League, will be among the competitions across the country to have sin-bins introduced following a trial period in select adult and youth leagues.

It means from next season, every player shown a yellow card for dissent will be sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes – similar to the system used in both codes of rugby – leaving their team a man down for that time, and Furness Referees Society head Bob Davies hopes it will have the desired effect.

"Probably dissent is one of the main reasons people stop refereeing – they just get sick of the same sort of things every game," said Davies. "Obviously, they've decided this is a way of possibly eradicating this from the game.

"I certainly hope so because there are a number of referees locally we've lost from the game over the last few years who have said they're just fed up with the comments and back-chat.

"I hope it will go along the lines of getting rid of this if we can."

According to the FA, trials in 31 different leagues saw a 38 per cent reduction in cautions for dissent as a result of sin-bins being introduced.

The argument against sin-bins is referees already have the tools to deal with dissent through issuing a yellow card under Law 12, but Davies believes a stronger deterrent is needed.

"At the moment, there are times you speak to players because they've given dissent and say 'sorry, it's a yellow card and it'll cost you £10' and you get the reply 'it's only £10'," said Davies.

"It's not a deterrent when you issue a yellow card, it just goes on and on. So we've got to do something and if it is successful then I think everybody will enjoy the game a bit more."

Full details will be revealed to leagues and referees in this area in July through a Lancashire FA workshop, with over 100 people expected to attend.

And while Davies does not envisage the system being used at professional level, he is eager to see how it pans out at this level.

"We're all human, we all make mistakes, we all get one view of it and sometimes it's a split-second and you're not viewing it from the best angle, but you've got to make a decision," said Davies.

"Anything, I'm willing to try if it keeps people refereeing, so certainly from that point of view it's worth a try."