The sight of referees showing red and yellow cards to players has an interesting origin, the story of which can be found on many online sites.

The reported ‘inventor’ is a man named Ken Aston, born in Essex in 1915.

A school teacher, he was also a part-time football referee. Following his service in World War II, he continued with both his profession and his soccer officiating, and his reputation led to him being chosen as a ref for the 1962 World Cup held in Chile.

During one particularly violent game, later referred to as ‘The Battle of Santiago’, Aston tried to issue warnings and send off several players – but the language barrier prevented him from doing so. None of the guilty parties could understand him and so did not respond to his decisions!

The matter weighed heavily on his mind and, when back home and stopped at an intersection near Wembley Stadium, he (or perhaps his wife, some say) had a light bulb idea: Why not use colours to indicate the decisions?

The spark was lit, and the concept was widely accepted. Cards were first used at the Mexico World Cup in 1970: Yellow for a caution and red for an early shower.

Hopefully, we won’t see too many red and yellow cards brandished this year.

#TacklingQatar2022: Manned by soccer fundi Dave Savides, the Corner Shop is the place to be for Soccer World Cup news. Savides, the long-time editor of the Zululand Observer, is tackling the coverage of the world’s greatest footie extravaganza for Caxton Local Media.

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