Penalty cards used in sports

When it comes to sports, judges and referees are important to maintain fair play of the game and resolve any sort of clashes between opposing sides. In order to ensure rules are followed and clashes don’t occur, many forms of representation are used. For example, in motor car races, flags are used to convey certain messages.

Likewise, coloured cards are used in many sports in order to give a message in a way which is visible to everybody including the players, spectators and media. The two most widely used cards are the yellow card and the red card although a couple of others are also used. You must have seen such cards being widely used in football matches. Let’s look at the significance of these cards in the sports in which they are used.

The Yellow Card

Generally, a yellow card is used in a sport to warn a player that his or her conduct is unacceptable and if that is continued, a certain level of punishment will be given.

Where football is concerned, once a yellow card has been shown to a player, the referee records it in a notebook; this is known as booking. Once a yellow card is shown, the player can still continue playing, but if the second yellow card is shown, it will be followed by a red card, and the player has to leave the field.

Some offences that can lead to a yellow card being issued in football are, unsporty behaviour, disagreement with the referee by word or action, delaying the restart of play, entering or leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission and taking off the jersey before a match is officially over.

In Rugby Union, if a yellow card is shown, the player will be suspended from playing for ten minutes. Similarly, in field hockey, a yellow card can be shown to a player, coach or captain for misconduct and that too will lead to a player being suspended for 5 or 10 minutes depending on whether the offence is verbal or physical.

Some forms of Japanese martial arts also use yellow cards to warn. Three cards in a row leads to disqualification. Furthermore, in water polo it is given to the entire team as a warning for disrespectful conduct, by the coach, individual players, or the team. Further incidents will result in a red card and the removal of individual players and coaches. The yellow card is used in some other sports such as volleyball, handball and fencing also to warn of misconduct in the field.

The Red Card

In contrast to the yellow card which is issued to warn a player, a red card typically signifies that warning time is over and that the player has received a certain level of punishment. This punishment is generally in the level of sending the player off the playing field, and can be a rather embarrassing event in a game.

The red card is very significant in football. It is given in the case of players receiving a second yellow card for showing violent behaviour, committing an offence on purpose to avoid an opponent scoring a goal, serious tackles etc.

When a player is given a red card in a football match, he is required to leave the field of play immediately and must take no further part in the game. The player who has been sent off cannot be replaced during the game, and the team must continue the game with one less player.

In field hockey and volleyball, the red card is used to send off a player. However, in field hockey, the red card can be shown to send off the captain of the team in case the entire team does something really bad. Moreover, the red card used in field hockey is circular in shape whereas in other cases it is of a rectangular shape.

In fencing, a red card is issued as punishment for a variety of rules infractions (breaking) and this results in an extra point for the opponent. In handball, the yellow card is used to suspend a player for periods of two minutes and a red card is shown to send a player off in case he or she exceeds three suspensions during the match.

Other cards used

The green card is unique to field hockey, which is used to indicate an official warning to a player who has committed certain types of misconduct that does not result in a temporary or permanent suspension. It is the last warning a player will get prior to a yellow card.

In fencing, a black card is issued by the director for severe breaking of rules such as deliberate cheating, refusal to salute, or unsportsman-like conduct. When the black card is issued, the offending fencer is removed from the event or tournament in which he or she is participating.

It cancels out all the games, including even those that the fencer has already won. In the official record of the tournament, his or her name is replaced with the words ‘fencer excluded’.