The round red card almost never seen in football that causes a sensation in England and its two explanations

TO expulsion in the eighth minute of any soccer The games are strange, but if the referee takes a round red card out of his pocket, everyone forgets the minute of the foul. So why did the referee throw out the circular red card?

It happened in the FA Cup clash between Brentford and Wolverhampton when Tony Harrington sent off Joao Gomes for a challenge on Christian Norgaardand the controversy over the expulsion gave way to disbelief over the shape of the card shown.

According to SPORTbible, which extracts the explanation from a refereeing forum, these round red cards (there are also oval ones) were introduced in football to Helps players who have trouble differentiating colors. Thus, even if the player suffers from a visual problem, he clearly understands that the rectangular card is yellow and the round one is red.

Previously, players like Tomas Delaney, They have admitted that their color blindness has led them to get confused on the field and not be able to differentiate their teammates when they look down while running with the ball.

“It's hard to describe. It's like seeing different shades of the same color,” said the first. The Crystal Palace player said to DR P3 in 2018. “Normally we play with different shorts, but this time (he said, referring to Denmark-Mexico) they were both white, which made it even more complicated.

“What I did was just look at the faces, but I had to do it very quickly so as not to lose the ball. When people are close you can distinguish well, but when the pace is high and they are further away, it's a little difficult.”

The other explanation, also explained in various forums, is a method to avoid confusion on the part of the referees themselves. To avoid making a mistake by sending off a player, an action that can determine a match, Some referees prefer to carry a round red card.

This makes it easier to distinguish from yellow when you take it out of your pocket. A Reddit user talks about a rugby referee who gave him this explanation.

“He once wanted to give someone a yellow card,” the forum user posted. “But he got the red card by mistake, so he changed his red card to a circle so he wouldn't make the same mistake again.”

Has it happened before?

The fans didn't even care about that. The match in Wolverhampton ended 1-1. and went to a repeat because they, on social media, stated that they had never witnessed something like this, but even if we had never seen it, it is not the first time it has happened…

Just a year ago, in January 2023, during FA Cup match between Wrexham and Sheffield United,Dean Whitestone He also showed a circular red card to Daniel Jebbison also causing a wave of strangeness among fans. Going back even further, Uriah Rennie, The first black referee to officiate a Premier League match in 1997 also wore them.