FIFA-The Elusive but Deadly Red Card used in Football
A red card is rarely shown in a game of football. When it is, it is usually for a very serious challenge or foul that has been committed. In the recent World Cup match between Germany and Serbia, which Serbia won 1-0, a red card was handed out to the German striker Miroslav Klose late in the first half. His red card was a turning point in the game and ended up being the decisive factor as Germany lost the game. Other red cards have had similar results on the football pitch while some have just been plain lunacy.
During the final of the FIFA World Cup 2006, France and Italy were in the final. Zinedine Zidane, the French captain at the time, head-butted Italian player Marco Materazzi in the chest. Subsequently, he was awarded a red card and sent off. This decision was probably the craziest moment of World Cup history with one of the best footballers being sent of in the final. It was the turning point of the game which led to France's defeat on penalties only because they didn't have their captain on the pitch to help them.
Officiating a football match is not and easy to-do job for referees. They have to deal with hot headed players, crazy fans, and screaming coaches. Moreover, through it all they have to try and make split second decisions. When they do hand out a red card or award a penalty it has to be taken in context and we have to try and empathise with the very tough job the ref is doing out on the pitch.
They sometimes lose it though. Many red cards and even yellow cards have been awarded for very strange reasons. One such incident happened when Paul Diago had just scored a goal for his side Geneva against opposing team Schaffhausen way back in 2004. He went over to celebrate with fans and jumped over a railing only to get his wedding ring caught on the railing and the top of his finger was ripped off. The referee did not care and gave him a yellow card for celebrating too much.
Another crazy incident happened in 2002, when Kieron Dyer & Lee Bowyer got into a fight on the pitch and both got a red card. The funny bit is that they were both on the same team at that time. Their team, Newcastle United, lost two players in one go for a very idiotic reason. Goalkeepers are not immune to craziness either and Oliver Kahn showed us just how crazy they can be. In 2001, a match between Bayern Munich and Hansa Rostock was being played. The match was in its dying minutes and Bayern Munich was losing 3-2 when a corner was awarded for Bayern. Kahn, the Bayern keeper, came running all the way into the opposing team's penalty area and proceeded to punch the ball into the Hansa goal. He was awarded a red card for his antics and sent off. It is hard to think that a goalie would act so strangely but he did and it ended up affecting his team.
Referees use yellow and red cards to try and control players' conduct during matches. It got to a point where referees were handing out yellow and red cards in almost every match until rules changed. A rule was implemented that, if a player gets two yellow cards in two consecutive matches he will miss the next game. This brought a little bit of pressure onto the players because none of them wanted to miss a game because of a yellow card and so they started to avoid foul play.
The card system was a brilliant addition to the rules of the game and it has helped keep order during football matches. It does not stop some players trying out their luck with crazy stunts that see them getting ejected from matches. At the end of the day, football would be a very chaotic and disorderly game without the humble red card that is so small yet changes situation dramatically.
Tags: