18 yellow cards are being handed out on average every gameweek in the Women’s Super League, up 70% from last season. If bookings continue to be issued at this rate, WSL sides are projected to end the season with 394 yellow cards between them compared to the 279 yellows received in 2022/23.
This season has already produced eight red cards, matching the total from the whole of last season.
These numbers reflect the stricter guidelines that have been put in place since the start of the season to try and clamp down on dissent and time wasting, amongst other things, with PGMOL head Howard Webb warning before the season began that bad behaviour from players would “no longer be ignored”.
This has had a clear impact on the WSL, where more than 30% of cautions this season have been attributed to dissent or time wasting offences. Last season, they accounted for just 9.4%.
As just 10 yellow cards were handed out for dissent in the entirety of the last WSL season, it’s debatable whether such a crackdown was necessary. Although it is right to ensure that the rules are adhered to and that referees and players are respected on the pitch, this does lead to questions over whether the league are trying to tackle an issue before it has even begun.
In the past, the women’s game has sometimes been guilty of leniency due to the misguided assumption that it involves less aggression or gamesmanship than the men’s, but the new zero-tolerance approach may be taking things a step too far.
There has been plenty of criticism of some high profile incidents, not least the sending off of Alex Greenwood in Man City’s draw against Chelsea earlier this season. Already on a booking, the City defender took 26 seconds to take a free kick in the first half and was given her marching orders by referee Emily Heaslip.
Man City captain Alex Greenwood is SENT OFF 😲
She's given a second booking for taking too long with a free-kick. #BBCFootball #WSL pic.twitter.com/Y4Gmxs6dCj
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) October 8, 2023
It isn’t just players who are being impacted. Everton manager Brian Sorensen accepted a touchline ban last week after being dismissed for arguing over refereeing decisions during the Toffees’ defeat to league leaders Chelsea.
It’s difficult to know whether these punishments were appropriate without knowing what exactly was said to the officials, but the upturn in cards being issued this year suggests that players and managers are being treated harsher than ever before.
A line ought to be drawn between criticism and abuse: officials have an incredibly difficult job and should never have to tolerate abuse for doing it. However, the decisions should be taken in context of the situation; logic should be applied rather than coming at this issue with a zero tolerance approach.
With the announcement last week that football’s governing bodies are set to trial ‘blue cards’ being issued for dissent, where a player will have to spend 10 minutes in the sin bin, it might be time for football to step back and assess whether this is really what’s best for the game.
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