New lightweight yellow card moves too much in the air say referees

THE NEW yellow card for Euro 2008 is too light and moves far too much in the air, according to referees who have used it in training and friendly matches.

After several high-profile errors with the new card in a recent international friendly between Honduras and Dr Congo, Howard Webb called into question the suitability of the card.

First, Webb lost control of his yellow card and watched it blow away into the stands when booking Wilson Palacios for taking a quick throw-in. Then, ten minutes later, he caught Carlo Costly in the eye with his card when attempting to caution him for a professional offside offence.

“It was like booking someone with a very small and yellow kite,” said Webb. “My arm was being dragged into the air, like when you have just put down something very heavy after carrying it for a long time.

“If this card is used for the tournament then we will see a lot of referees misjudging both the height and movement of the card when removing it from the back pocket, and a lot of freak bookings. I’ve seen referees flapping it all over the place and mistakenly booking four or five players at a time, it detracts from the integrity of the game”

The new card, unveiled by Paul Durkin and Roger Milford at a star-studded event in the Swiss town of Cunter, had been billed by creators Adidas as ‘the card of the future’. Fashioned from oxygen, CO2, and buttercup, and featuring a polymer grip, the card has clocked impressive trial times of under one fifth of a second from removal from a back pocket to caution, and insiders have called its hi-tech colouring “as dazzlingly yellow as the sun”.

Published July 6, 2008

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