A&H

Two Yellows

Ge0rge

New Member
Hypothetical situation: a player commits a reckless challenge. I call him over to show him a card but before I can do so he squares up to an opponent (not enough to warrant VC, but enough to be carded for AA)

My question is: Would you show a straight red with an explanation or would you show the two yellows one after another to explain whilst explaining your decision?

Apologies if this has already been covered
 
The Referee Store
Two yellows. He has committed two offences.
The answer is in the lotg if you want to check for sure. Pg 109:
Where two separate cautionable offences are committed (even in close
proximity), they should result in two cautions, for example if a player enters
the field of play without the required permission and commits a reckless tackle
or stops a promising attack with a foul/handball, etc.
 
Also refer to "Football expect" approach a to some extend here. The threshold for a caution on AA is a little higher in this case than a isolated AA incident. Most people would be surprised to see two yellows out of this (depending on the severity of the square up) even though it would technically be correct.

Also if this happens in a game, in my reflection and self analysis I would be thinking if there was anything I could have done to prevent the second incident.
 
The other thing I'd add is particularly in this 2nd yellow situation, be especially aware of who is doing what as part of the "squaring up".

If the fouling player gets up and has the victim or one of his teammates square up to him, the original fouler has not automatically committed a second offence. When two player go head-to-head it's the easiest thing in the world to just bang out a yellow apiece and get on with the game. But standing your ground when someone comes charging up to you shouldn't be punished and (particularly if it would be a second yellow) it's up to you as the referee to make those key distinctions.
 
Link to a video in a game I remember from a couple of years back. It’s a step 4 game. Yellow Captain commits an offence, then gives the referee dissent. Referee clearly signals that the first yellow is for the incident and the second yellow is for the dissent and double yellows him.

It’s from about 1 minute 50 seconds on the attached link.

 
When cards were first introduced, they were intended only to signal the effect, so 2CTs only showed the red card. They were a tool only, and not in the Laws. I believe it was the first great re-write some 20 years later that first added yellow and red cards to the LOTG and simultaneously changed the expectation that a second yellow be shown before a red card. Not directly relevant to the question, but I thought it might be interesting to some of the younger crowd.
 
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