Possibly a little off topic, as I’m not sure any current footy rule covers this, but let’s look at players surrounding referees to dispute various decisions. It’s become s total joke, pitiful actually. In my mind there’s a relatively easy solution that may be worth a try.

As things stand now, each team has a captain, let’s add two other ‘associate captains’ to each team. Only one of the three designates is allowed to speak to the ref. Any physical contact initiated by the player is an immediate red card.