The history of yellow and red cards in football that not many people know about will be reviewed in this article. In a football match, the referee as the court judge has two “magic” cards as warning signs to players.
The cards in question are yellow and red cards. The yellow card itself is given to a player who is considered to have committed a violation on the field.
While a red card will be issued by the referee if a player is deemed to have committed a violation that endangers other players. However, where did the yellow and red cards actually come from?
Yellow cards and red cards in football were initiated by a schoolteacher from England named Kenneth George Aston. In the midst of his busy life as a teacher, Kenneth Aston is often trusted to be a referee in a match.
At the 1962 World Cup he was entrusted with leading the tough match between Italy vs Chile. Where at that time, the match had been a riot.
When the match entered the 8th minute, Kenneth Aston was forced to send off the Italian player, Giorgio Ferrini, for kicking a Chilean player. However, he was confused about how to expel the player, while he could not speak Italian. Finally, Kenneth Aston simply signalled that Giorgio Ferrini should leave the pitch.
Departing from that disquiet, Kenneth Aston looked for ways to make his mark on players. Finally, he found it by making yellow and red cards.
Kenneth Aston’s inspiration for yellow and red cards was quite unique. He is known to be inspired by traffic lights, which consist of red, yellow and green. At that time he was on his way home after the match at Wembley Stadium.
Kenneth Aston pulled over near a stoplight at the Kensington High Street intersection. Kenneth Aston realised that the colour of the lights could be used in football matches. At that time, Kenneth Aston only focused on red and yellow.
Both colours can be applied to a football match. He likens the yellow light as a form of warning, like a yellow light that signals to be careful when you are at an intersection. While red lights are interpreted to stop players from the field, such as red lights, which require road users to stop.
From there he also had the initiative to apply it to football matches. However, the application of yellow and red cards was only officially tried at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico until it was used until now.
