The Chronicle of the Red-Yellow Card

Do the use of red and yellow cards already known when modern football born? The answer is no. New red and yellow cards introduced in the 1970 World Cup.

However, the inspiration came from the 1966 World Cup, the quarter-final between England host the Argentine opponent. The referee who led the match was from Germany, namely Rudolf Kreitlein.

Because of the hard foul, Argentine captain, Antonio Rattin, expelled by Kreitlein. However, Rattin did not understand what the referee meant. He did not immediately leave the field.

The referee in charge of England who took part in the game, Ken Aston, then go into the field. With a bit of Spanish speaking ability, he seduced Rattin to leave the field, because Rudolf Kreitlein decided so. Because just speak German and English, he was having difficulty explaining his decision to Rattin.

Since this case, Ken Aston was thinking later. There should be a universal communication that can be immediately known to everyone, when the referee gives a warning to the player or expel him from the field, without having to make an explanation in a language that may can not be understood by the players.

One day, he stopped at the cross road. Looking at the traffic light (red light), he then got the idea. Then he suggested that referees given a yellow card and red. Yellow card to warn hard or mild sanctions to players who commit foul. While the red card for serious sanctions and the players who did it should get out of the field.

The idea was accepted by FIFA. At the 1970 World Cup, yellow and red cards for the first time used. Ironically, during the World Cup in 1970 none of the players affected by the red card. Only a yellow card pocketed out. Thus, a red card can not "show off" at the 1970 World Cup.

Though the idea came from the British referee, but the country itself does not necessarily apply them in their competition. Red and yellow cards had been used in English football competition in 1976. Since then the referee is too easy to eject the card, and protested by a lot of players, so it’s use was suspended in 1981 and 1987.

Interestingly, this idea was adopted by hockey sport. Even it uses three colors of cards, as traffic light did: green, yellow, and red. Green for warning, yellow for expelling a player a while, and red to permanently expel players.