- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 16 November 2003 01.01 GMT
The 2003 World Cup in Australia is an emphatic success, engaging even those who thought they had no interest in the game. Once slow to modernise, rugby now leads the sporting world in innovation. The decision to wire the referee for sound, so television viewers can hear what is said during a game, was bold, as was the introduction of the sin bin, to which a player is banished for indiscipline. There he must sit for 10 minutes before returning, chastened, to the field of play. Other sports could make use of sin bins; football, for a start, where a sending-off invariably destroys a game. But why stop there? With the temperature set to heat up at Prime Minister's Question Time, the House of Commons might also benefit from a sin bin. Gordon Brown, too, might appreciate a place to cool down next time he meets with the Prime Minister.
