Penalty cards are used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offence. The official will hold the card above their head while looking or pointing toward the player who has committed the offence. This action makes the decision clear to all players, as well as spectators and other officials in a manner that is language-neutral. The colour or shape of the card used by the official indicates the type or seriousness of the offence and the level of punishment that is to be applied. Yellow and red cards are the most common, typically indicating, respectively, cautions and dismissals.
History and origin The idea of using a universal language – neutral coloured cards – to communicate a referee's intentions originated in association football, with English referee Ken Aston. Aston had been appointed to the FIFA Referees' Committee and was responsible for all referees at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. In the quarter-finals, England played Argentina at Wembley Stadium. After the match, newspaper reports stated that referee Rudolf Kreitlein had cautioned Englishmen Bobby and Jack Charlton, as well as sent off Argentinian Antonio Rattín. The referee had not made his decision clear during the game, so England manager Alf Ramsey approached a FIFA representative for post-match clarification. This incident started Aston thinking about ways to make a referee's decisions clearer to both players and spectators. Aston realised that a colour-coding scheme based on the same principle as used on traffic lights (yellow – stop if safe to do so, red – stop) would transcend language barriers and make it clear that a player had been cautioned or expelled. As a result, yellow cards to indicate a caution and red cards to indicate an expulsion were used for the first time in the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. The use of penalty cards has since been adopted and expanded by several sporting codes, with each sport adapting the idea to its specific set of rules or laws.
Commonly used penalty cards
Yellow card
A yellow card is used in many sporting codes. Its meaning differs among sports; however, it most commonly indicates a caution given to a player regarding their conduct, or indicates a temporary suspension. Examples include:
Association football
In association football, a yellow card is shown by the referee to indicate that a player has been officially cautioned. The player's details are then recorded by the referee in a small notebook; hence a caution is also known as a "booking". A player who has been cautioned may continue playing in the game; however, a player who receives a second caution in a match is sent off (shown the yellow card again, and then a red card), meaning that they must leave the field immediately and take no further part in the game. The player may not be replaced by a substitute. Law 12 of the Laws of the Game (which are set by the International Football Association Board and used by FIFA) lists the types of offences and misconduct that may result in a caution or is cautionary. Law 12 was amended in 2019 to allow team officials, such as head coaches, to also receive yellow and red cards. It also states that "only a player, substitute, substituted player or team official" can be cautioned. A player is usually given a one-match suspension (although it can be more for certain circumstances) after accumulating two yellow cards in a match. The same is generally applied to team officials.
In most tournaments, accumulating a certain number of yellow cards over several matches results in suspending the offending player for a certain number of subsequent matches, the exact number of cards and matches varying by jurisdiction (these sanctions are not regulated by the Laws of the Game). In the UEFA Champions League, for instance, accumulating two yellow cards in a tournament stage will lead to a one-game suspension. In such situations players have often been suspected of (and occasionally even admitted to) deliberately incurring a second booking in a tournament when the following game is of little importance, thus resetting their yellow card tally to zero for subsequent games (known as "cleaning cards"). However, while technically within the rules of competition, this is considered unsportsmanlike. UEFA has occasionally acted on such choices and has given additional fines and/or suspensions to the players and managers involved. For example, Sergio Ramos both in 2010 and 2019 picked up extra Champions League suspensions after publicly suggesting during interviews that a yellow card that he accrued was on purpose for card cleaning, the first of which came together with Xabi Alonso under José Mourinho's orders.
Athletics In track events, a yellow card is used as a personal warning in both track and field events used to indicate that a second yellow card followed by a red card would result in a disqualification. World Athletics rules have abolished false start warnings; false starts now result in immediate disqualification except in combined events where a diagonal yellow/black card indicates a warning for false start. However, as of 2012, the false start rule is that an athlete's hands must leave the track or their feet must leave the starting blocks before the gunshot in order for a false start to be given. Therefore, if an athlete makes a twitch, while being in their final 'set' position, the maximum penalty is a yellow card.
Australian football In Australian rules football, a yellow card is issued against a player for committing any reportable offence (such as striking an opponent, swearing at an official, amongst others), except those listed as 'serious' reportable offences. Any player issued a yellow card is unable to participate in the game for the length of a quarter of play, excluding breaks, although the player can be replaced. However, a yellow card may be issued against a player at the discretion of an umpire, despite the player not committing a reportable offence. Yellow cards and red cards are, however, not issued in the Australian Football League, the highest level of play in Australian rules football.
Badminton In badminton, a yellow card is given to a singles player or doubles pair as a warning for breaching the Laws of Badminton. A yellow card can only be given once to a player or pair in a match; subsequent breaches are sanctioned with a red or black card.
Bandy In bandy, a yellow card indicates a warning given to an entire team for technical fouls such as errors in the execution of goal-throws or free strokes, or the obstruction of a player without ball. Subsequent technical fouls by the same team result in a five-minute penalty indicated by a white card.
Canoe polo In canoe polo, a sanction card indicates a player has received a two-minute temporary suspension. A sanction card can be awarded for a repeated deliberate or dangerous foul; a deliberate or dangerous foul for which a goal penalty shot is awarded; any deliberate contact with the kayak of an opponent who is trying to take a free shot, corner, sideline, or goal line throw; repeated and continuous disputing of Referee's decisions; foul or abusive language directed at an opponent or Official; or unnecessary verbal communication directed at a Referee, Official, or opponent, or any other unsporting behavior. A yellow card indicates that this is the second sanctionable offense that the player has committed during the game, the first offense being indicated by a green card and the third by a red card. A player receiving a yellow card will serve the suspension and their team will play with one fewer player for up to two minutes, or until the opposing team scores a goal, at which point the player who received the card, or one of other substitutes, can re-enter the field of play and the power-play is over.
Equestrian sports In equestrian sports, yellow cards may be issued during FEI sanctioned events for abuse of a horse or incorrect behavior towards an official. Abuse of the horse may include riding an obviously lame horse, riding an exhausted horse, excessive use of whip or spurs, and dangerous riding. Riders may choose not to accept issued cards, but doing so may lead to a disciplinary hearing. A rider receiving a yellow card can be disqualified from the event and subsequently fined or suspended.
Fencing In fencing, a yellow card indicates a warning to a fencer and is valid for the remainder of the bout. In some cases, an annulment of any hit scored by the fencer at fault may also occur. Yellow cards are awarded for "Tier 1" offenses, such as turning your back to your opponent, covering target area (most common in Foil), leaving the piste without permission, or refusing to obey the referee. A yellow card can also be awarded when, at the first call by the referee, a fencer does not present himself on the piste ready to fence. Any person not on the piste who disturbs the good order of the competition may also receive a yellow card on the first infringement.
Field hockey Yellow cards in field hockey indicate a temporary suspension of at least 5 minutes. The length of the suspension is determined by the umpire. It is possible for a player to receive two yellow cards for different offences during the same match; however, the period of suspension must be significantly longer with each yellow card. When an offence for which a yellow card has been awarded is repeated, the yellow card must not be used again and a more severe penalty must be awarded. There must also be a clear difference between the duration of a yellow card suspension for a minor offence and the duration for a major offence. The yellow card can be shown to a specific player or to the captain for misconduct by the entire team. In this case, the captain is temporarily suspended.
Gaelic games In the Gaelic games of camogie, Gaelic football, hurling, and ladies' Gaelic football, yellow cards () are given to players for moderate fouls. A player who receives two yellow cards in a single game is sent off and receives a red card. Red and yellow cards were introduced to Gaelic games following an incident during the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final when the referee sent Charlie Redmond from the field of play but he refused to leave.
Handball A yellow card in handball indicates a warning and can be given to a player or team official for unsportsmanlike conduct, or to a player whose actions are mainly or exclusively directed at the opponent and not at the ball. IHF rules also allow referees to use discretion to award a yellow card outside of these situations.
Lacrosse Yellow cards are used in women's lacrosse to denote flagrant misconduct or use of illegal equipment. A player receiving a yellow card must serve a two minute temporary suspension, during which time their team plays a player down. Yellow cards can either be releasable (where the team returns to full numerical strength should they concede a goal) or non-releasable (where the full two minutes must be served), depending on the infraction. All yellow card fouls are automatically non-releasable should a team accumulate four or more yellow card offenses in a single game.
Loofball
In loofball, misconduct attracts either a verbal warning, a yellow or red card. While a verbal warning carries no penalty, a yellow card carries a point penalty and a red card carries both a point penalty and disqualification. A player usually gets sanctioned in the following order: first misconduct = verbal warning, second misconduct = yellow card + point to the opposition, third misconduct = red card + point to the opposition + disqualification.
Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts promotions PRIDE (defunct), DEEP, and ZST: A warning, the third leads to disqualification.
Pedagogics