the.com/red card
The world's fastest way to turn eleven into ten.
means A referee's signal — a raised red rectangle of cardboard — that ejects a player from a soccer match for serious foul play, leaving their team to finish the game a man short.
from Introduced to football in the early 1970s by English referee Ken Aston, who reportedly dreamed up the color-coded card system while stopped at a traffic light — red for stop, yellow for caution. The cards debuted at the 1970 World Cup, solving the old problem of players (and crowds) not understanding verbal warnings across language barriers.
- origin
- Introduced at the 1970 World Cup for clarity
- why red
- Chosen to avoid language barriers between referees and players
- consequence
- Player ejected, team plays shorthanded rest of match
- escalation
- Two yellows in one game equal an automatic red