Question: Imagine you had the power to change any rule in soccer—whether to abolish one or introduce a new one—what would it be? By our guess, it could be anything from scrapping VAR to adding a twist that brings some extra spice to the beautiful game. While we’d love to hear passionate takes from devoted fans, we’d like to share one from Sue Bird for now, after the fiancée of Megan Rapinoe was also once given a chance to talk about changing one rule.

Well, before we unveil what it is, let’s understand how it actually came to this. Well, both Rapinoe and Sue Bird were invited for a brief chat in the latest episode of the Attacking Third’s Morning Footy show, co-hosted by Claudia Pagan, Nico Cantor, and Jen Beattie. Interestingly, at the beginning of the segment, the power couple were questioned whether they had any rule change to suggest for either of their respective sport.

Without any major hesitation, Sue Bird began, “I think for soccer, you guys need to get rid of the yellows and the reds and go to a basketball model—three fouls and you’re out. If you foul three times, maybe four, you’re gone no matter the severity. A little ticky-tack, a slide tackle or you take somebody’s ankles out three of those, you’re gone!”

Fascinating! Come to think of it, now that Sue has brought this up, even we have started imagining how this rule will actually unfold. Sure, soccer is one of the sports that requires exertion, not only on a fitness basis but primarily on physicality. Hardly a typical match goes where the referee has never blown his whistle to stop the play over a foul. Giving yellow and red cards is something that comes at last.

They are used for extreme situations when the player has deliberately or accidentally but fairly enough crossed a line in terms of foul or any other aspect. But just imagine, if this rule suggested by Sue Bird actually comes into effect. Boy, would we see a very clean game of soccer? Every player will literally think twice before pulling off any mind games or foolish antics against their rivals.

Then again, realistically speaking, its unlikely that we will see this basketball-themed rule-making into the rulebooks of the beautiful game. In the meantime, let’s hear what Megan Rapinoe has to say!

Which soccer and basketball rule will Megan Rapinoe change?

Starting with the very game she excelled in, Rapinoe had a similar yet different suggestion to offer. “We need to have a sin bin,” she said while continuing with the segment. “Like, based on the severity of your foul, you got to go and spend five minutes in the penalty box and then you can come back out. Then, you got to play down a man…like 10 minutes or if it’s really bad, you just get a red card.”

Again, quite fascinating as we bet this rule will also work out just fine. Honestly, even the fellow host and Pinoe’s significant other were also impressed to hear this idea. Meanwhile, as for basketball, Rapinoe wants to see a “four-pointer.” Typically, you must have heard three, two, and one-pointers. However, the concept of 4 points also sounds attractive.

Perhaps, it can be given after someone baskets the ball outside the three-arc pointers. After all, we often witness such long-term shots in a basketball game. Regardless, these are some interesting take from both legends of their respective sport. Now, we would like to know if there’s any rule that you like to add or change in either of these games. Sound off in the comments.