Show Your 'Orange' Card
Are You Ready to Caution Players Effectively?

By Joe Bean

I wondered what the young grade 8 referee would do as I watched A8, just inside the touchline, jump up and down right in front of B6.

He responded quickly, accurately and authoritatively. After blowing the whistle with a short but sharp blast to stop play in the U-14 game, he beckoned A8 toward him, spoke to A8 and correctly displayed the yellow card at arm’s length above his own head. He then noted A8’s infraction in his notebook, backed away from the area, exchanged thumbs up with his assistant referees and correctly restarted the game with a throw-in.

Excellent, I thought! He had recognized the misconduct immediately, stopped play and issued the card. His mechanics, from the time he blew the whistle until he signaled for the restart of play, were about as close to letter-perfect, by-the-book as a referee can get. And I interpreted the exchange of “thumbs up” with his assistant referees as a clear indication of a thorough and well-planned pregame discussion by the crew.

As I watched the referee’s activities, I continued to be impressed with his fitness, mobility and positioning. He anticipated play well, stayed close to play and, judging by his smile and apparent ease with which he moved around the field, was enjoying himself.

When he blew the whistle for a subsequent foul, however, he duplicated the precise mechanics I had appreciated so much a few minutes earlier. That time, however, I was not impressed.

He had seen the foul, for sure — an aggressive, two-handed push to the back immediately after B4 had lost the ball to A10 in what became the attacking third of the field. A10 lost control of the ball and then he fell facedown on the muddy field.

The referee immediately whistled the foul with an identical short but sharp blast to stop play, and beckoned B4 to him. As he had done minutes before, he spoke directly to B4 and correctly displayed the yellow card at arm’s length above his head. He then noted B4’s infraction in his notebook, backed away from the area, exchanged “thumbs up” with his assistant referees and correctly restarted the game with a direct free kick.

I was convinced he missed an opportunity to learn an important player management and communications lesson.

After the game, I asked the referee to describe the two cautions. He was confident, forthright and technically correct in his responses. The first was a “mandatory” caution, he noted, and he had explained the reason for the card to A8. The second, he said, was reckless play and in his opinion a yellow card was justified.

I asked if he had considered playing advantage on B4’s pushing foul. No, he replied, not with A10 facedown in the mud. We agreed. I asked if he had considered a red card. He had considered it, he quickly replied, but he didn’t think B4 used excessive force and, therefore, a red card was not appropriate. Nor did he believe B4 was guilty of retaliation.

Then I asked if he had considered an orange card. He looked at me without saying a word. I waited as his facial expression changed from disbelief to confusion. (“An orange card?” he seemed to be asking himself quizzically.) “Is that something new?” he eventually asked me.

No, I said. I wanted him to think my suggestion through, so I asked if he thought the two yellow cards were “equal” in relation to the different offenses A8 and B4 had committed. Not really, he said, suggesting that the two-handed push from the back could be considered serious foul play — unlike A8 who had attempted to interfere with the throw-in.

We agreed that the players and fans perceived no difference in the two cards, and therein was the problem. He could have blown his whistle harder, he said. We agreed on that. And he could have talked longer to B4, he offered. We agreed again.

Had he done so, I said, he would have been halfway to showing the “orange” card and he would have learned a mini-lesson in player management and communicated vital information to the players, the benches, the coaches and the spectators.

We concluded that showing an “orange” card involves five distinct steps:

1. Make your whistle obvious. No short, sharp blast. Make it a long and hard blast, so everyone hears it and understands that there will be no quick restart after that whistle.

2. Get to the spot of the foul immediately to prevent retaliation. Let the players know by your presence that you will deal with that incident immediately.

3. After you’ve beckoned the offending player away from the spot of the foul, make it clear by your gestures that those actions are not acceptable. Speak loudly and firmly (but don’t yell angrily), “No more! No more!” as you cross your arms several times in front of your body.

4. Show the orange card as you’ve done before. It’s actually your yellow card, of course.

5. Use it when appropriate. An orange card is definitely appropriate when there is a card for a technical infraction (as A8 did in the opening scenario) quickly followed by another caution for a physical foul as the young referee experienced. But there are other times to consider pulling out the orange card as well.

You might show an orange card early in a rivalry match where failure to take strong action might lead to serious game-control problems. When you’ve already issued three or four cautions and the players do not seem to change their behavior, you might take the more stern course. And if you’ve already cautioned B5 for a hard, physical foul against star player A7 and then B8 is going to get cautioned for another hard, physical foul against that same star player, you might want to “ramp-up” the punishment to an orange card. If done effectively in any of those instances, you might prevent a red card.

I see that young referee from time to time. He’s now a grade 7, focusing on another upgrade. When I ask him how many cards he has in his pockets, his answer is always the same: “Three. Yellow and red … and orange!”

Joe Bean, a high-level instructor, referees high school and college soccer. He was the 2008 Illinois High School Association Referee of the Year for girls’ soccer.