Red Cards

• The Evolution of Disciplinary Cards in Football

  While referees have had the authority to issue warnings and send players off the field since the 19th century, the iconic red and yellow cards we know today were not introduced until the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. Before this pivotal moment, the reporting of cautions was not widespread in contemporary media or official match reports, making it challenging to document these incidents accurately.
  A big moment that changed everything was the 1966 World Cup quarter-final between England and Argentina. Things got heated, and Argentina’s captain, Antonio Rattin, got dismissed while three other Argentinian players were booked. With all the confusion, England’s manager Alf Ramsey had to double-check with FIFA and the referee to see if Jack and Bobby Charlton had been cautioned—turns out they had, but nobody was really sure at the time. That mess led Ken Aston, who was running FIFA’s refereeing committee, to come up with the idea for the card system—kind of like traffic lights: yellow for a warning, red for sending off.
  As a direct result of the England-Argentina match, Ken Aston, the head of FIFA's refereeing committee, struck upon the ingenious idea of using a "traffic light" system of cards. The yellow card would represent a caution, while the red card would signify an expulsion, providing a clear and universally understood method of communicating disciplinary actions.
  At Englandstats we have, to-date, documented 498 England Yellow Cards. This list is not exhaustive due to the challenges of accurately recording cautions before the introduction of the card system.
  
  Hover over the card for a description of the offence(s).
• 20 England Red Cards
• "Shaw gets the wrong side of Politano this time and clips his ankle late. A free kick, and he could be in some bother here [78:07]...Yep, it’s a second yellow. Shaw picks up his second yellow in short order, and England are down to ten." Luke Shaw (1st) 80th minute, v Italy, 23rd Mar 2023, European Championship Qualifier
• "A second yellow for Stones, who is penalised for checking Gazdag in the face with his shoulder. “It’s not a foul,” insists the stunned Stones, and that indeed is a harsh decision. It looked totally accidental, with little in the way of malice. But VAR can’t get involved with yellow-card decisions, so off he must go." John Stones (1st) 82nd minute, v Hungary, 14th Jun 2022, UEFA Nations League
• "Maguire was lucky he did not receive an instant red for an ugly fifth-minute challenge on Yussuf Poulsen - he got away with yellow...and his evening was over on 31 minutes when he took a poor touch to set up a 50-50 challenge with Kasper Dolberg. Maguire got there first, winning the ball, yet his clumsy and heavy follow-through saw him catch the Denmark centre-forward." Harry Maguire (1st) 31st minute, v Denmark, 14th Oct 2020, UEFA Nations League
• "The evening was notable for an unwanted piece of history, with England collecting a second red card in a single game for the first time. It was Reece James who lost his composure after the final whistle..." Reece James (1st) 94th minute, v Denmark, 14th Oct 2020, UEFA Nations League
• Lunging into a challenge with Arnor Ingi Traustason. Kyle Walker (1st) 70th minute, v Iceland, 5th Sep 2020, UEFA Nations League
• Violent Conduct. Sterling and Valencia are both sent off. Sterling for a late challenge on Valencia and the Ecuadorian for grabbing the Englishman's throat in retaliation. Raheem Sterling (1st) 79th minute, v Ecuador, 4th Jun 2014, Friendly
• Second Yellow. Gerrard is dimissed for two cautionable offences (foul tackles). The first after tackling Ruslan Rotan; the second on Denys Garmash. Steven Gerrard (1st) 88th minute, v Ukraine, 11th Sep 2012, World Cup Qualifier
• "Rooney kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic in the 73rd minute. The spiteful petulance came merely because Rooney had lost possession." Wayne Rooney (2nd) 73rd minute, v Montenegro, 7th Oct 2011, European Championship Qualifier
• "John Terry had just stood firm to dispossess the rushing Andriy Shevchenko, and had carried the ball upfield to send over a cross that Wayne Rooney just failed to reach at the far post. With Terry still out of position, Ukraine sent a quick ball forward down the right and found Ferdinand dawdling. Milevskiy was goalside of England's last defender in a flash, and just as Green realised it would be down to him to prevent the danger, he spied a chance to claim the ball and went for it, succeeding only in bringing the Ukraine striker down. As it was a penalty, it had to be a red card too, and after beginning the game by waiting two minutes for a succession of flares to be cleared from his penalty area, Green departed after being active on the pitch for even less time than the clock suggested." Rob Green (1st) 13th minute, v Ukraine, 10th Oct 2009, World Cup Qualifier
• "Rooney walking from the field on the hour, a red card waved above his petulant head after an ill-advised entanglement with the most delicate part of Ricardo Carvalho's anatomy. Whether there was intent is impossible to say. It looked, without prejudice, a moment of unstructured argy-bargy. And the Chelsea man made the most of it." Wayne Rooney (1st) 62nd minute, v Portugal, 1st Jul 2006, World Cup Finals
• "then sent off seconds later for a foul on the same player as he raced towards the penalty area." David Beckham (2nd) 59th minute, v Austria, 8th Oct 2005, World Cup Qualifier
• "...Smith recklessly tackled Aleksandar Vasoski and received his second yellow card." Alan Smith (1st) 93rd minute, v Macedonia, 16th Oct 2002, European Championship Qualifier
• David Batty is shown a straight red card after committing a late tackle on Radoslaw Michalski. David Batty (1st) 84th minute, v Poland, 8th Sep 1999, European Championship Qualifier
• Again on Schwarz but this time more full-blooded. Paul Scholes (1st) 52nd minute, v Sweden, 5th Jun 1999, European Championship Qualifier
• "[He] was given his marching orders after 65 minutes following a late challenge on man of the match Henrik Larsson." Paul Ince (1st) 67th minute, v Sweden, 5th Sep 1998, European Championship Qualifier
• "Beckham, flattened by Simeone's clumsy foul [45:37] and lying face down when he kicked out at his aggressor [45:51], is only the fifth England footballer to be sent off [46:13]." David Beckham (1st) 47th minute, v Argentina, 30th Jun 1998, World Cup Finals
• Ray Wilkins received his second caution of the game after throwing the ball at the referee. Ray Wilkins (1st) 43rd minute, v Morocco, 6th Jun 1986, World Cup Finals
• "The game was proceeding to a draw when Cherry made a mild challenge from behind on Bertoni, spread his palms wide as the Argentinian turned and received a blow in the mouth for his trouble. The referee's back was turned but a linesman had spotted the incident although his version must have been a little awry because after Bertoni had been sent off an amazed Cherry, mouth starting to bleed, followed him. Afterwards it was learned that Cherry had lost two front teeth." Trevor Cherry (1st) 83rd minute, v Argentina, 12th Jun 1977, Friendly
• "Ball appeared to be intervening in a scuffle between Peters and a Polish forward, but Schiller had no hesitation in showing him the red card." Alan Ball (1st) 77th minute, v Poland, 6th Jun 1973, World Cup Qualifier
• Alan Mullery is the first man to be sent off for England for kicking out at Dobrivoje Trivic. Alan Mullery (1st) 87th minute, v Yugoslavia, 5th Jun 1968, European Championship Finals