# Why a yellow card here? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-soccer-fifa\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102 "2021-12-15T13:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/1 "2021-12-15T13:48:43Z")
> **[Pitch invader decked by Sam Kerr can't be arrested because it was a women's...](https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer-pitch-invader-decked-by-sam-kerr-cant-be-arrested-because-it-was-a-womens-match-160214587.html)** > > The UK has a law making it illegal for fans to run onto the pitch, but a loophole has allowed this fan to go unpunished. So, an idiot gets on the pitch in England during a match, and is slow getting off the field. One of the players knocks him over with a shoulder check, and apparently received a yellow card for her trouble. WTF? Also, it is apparently a crime to get on the pitch during a (high-level) men’s match in Great Britain, but not a women’s. Also worthy of discussion, but I’m interested in why she got booked. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/2 "2021-12-15T13:55:46Z")
Remeber Eric [Cantona](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iPOSAJBdLc)? I guess it is the same. The only difference is in degree (so she only got yellow), but the deed is judged the same. No matter what the spectator does: you do not hit him back. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/3 "2021-12-15T14:08:06Z")
Doesn’t seem the same - Cantona went after someone in the stands (it might be the same rule, but someone on the pitch is arguably no longer a spectator). ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/4 "2021-12-15T14:08:16Z")
Well, we may all heartily approve of what she did, but it can hardly be a surprise that a player gets carded for assaulting a member of the public. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/5 "2021-12-15T14:09:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Doesn’t seem the same - Cantona went after someone in the stands (it might be the same rule, but someone on the pitch is arguably no longer a spectator). Deliberately shoulder barging another player would have the same result - you know it’s a non-combat sport, right? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/6 "2021-12-15T14:14:26Z")
I’m disappointed the fan didn’t flop and act like he had been run over by a 747. That’s real soccer. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/7 "2021-12-15T14:16:10Z")
Yeah, basketball is a non-combat sport also. And do the contact rules cover non-game participants? I could actually see her facing a criminal/civil complaint (assault) but not why she got the card. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I’m disappointed the fan didn’t flop and act like he had been run over by a 747. That’s real soccer. He didn’t have to flop, she straight up knocked him down. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/8 "2021-12-15T14:18:31Z")
True enough, but I wanted him to writhe in pain preferably holding his face like she headbutted him too. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/9 "2021-12-15T14:25:02Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I could actually see her facing a criminal/civil complaint (assault) but not why she got the card. I imagine it’s covered by the yellow card offence of ‘unsporting behaviour’. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/10 "2021-12-15T14:34:15Z")
Tie Domi gets into it with a fan in the penalty box - [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uK3OsPJ0HeY/maxresdefault.jpg "Remember When Tie Domi Fought A Fan In The Penalty Box?!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK3OsPJ0HeY) I think that Domi was fined $1000 by the NHL. I’m not sure what happened to the fan, but I assume he was arrested at the least. Bad, but still not actively going into the stands ala Terry O’Reilly or Ron Artest. I guess that sports wants it to look like they are punishing players for ‘interacting with the fans’ in this manner. They are penalized but not too harshly (is there something lesser than a yellow card for a footballer?). All this will change the moment a player gets hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/11 "2021-12-15T14:34:42Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I imagine it’s covered by the yellow card offence of ‘unsporting behaviour’. That’s a nebulous enough concept that it covers the infraction - thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/12 "2021-12-15T14:44:52Z")
For me, as a crude, brutish American, it just seems weird to punish a player with a game penalty for an infraction involving a civilian. I can’t imagine an NFLer getting punished for “unsportsmanlike conduct” for, say, tackling a wayward fan. And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen baseball players take down fans when security wasn’t fast enough to get to them, all without incident. I mean, I guess it philosophically makes sense, it’s just odd enough for me and my experience of sports that it strikes me funny. For example: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jWUiLdVmcQA/hqdefault.jpg "MLB Players vs Fans") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUiLdVmcQA) But baseball doesn’t have the equivalent of “unsportsmanlike conduct,” I guess. Ah, here’s a football fan getting tackled on the field: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Fd9ojWDRlMI/hqdefault.jpg "NFL SAVAGE Fans on the Field") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9ojWDRlMI) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-yellow-card-here/956102/13 "2021-12-15T14:55:33Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > They are penalized but not too harshly (is there something lesser than a yellow card for a footballer?) No, yellow card is the first warning (get another one, and it turns red).