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In soccer, yellow and red cards are used to admonish players who go once morest the rules and/or commit artful fouls. But the use of the white card goes the other way. This represents a congratulatory gesture for whoever receives it.
This new card color is used to publicly recognize clubs for acts of fair play during the match. This in order to “improve the ethical value in sport.” In the classic between Benfica vs. Sporting de Lisboa, the main judge showed the white card to the medical bodies of both squads for helping a sick fan in the stands of the stadium.
“Undoubtedly, the white card is not found in the rules of the game. He was going to get a blue card, but it didn’t prevail”, César Mongrut, a former Peruvian referee, told us. The national explains the context. “This may be a decision of the Portuguese refereeing commission, that a white card is shown when a Fair Play move is made. The referee then recognizes that Fair Play and shows the team a white card. Not being in the rule, it is something extraordinary that the Portuguese commission has surely done ”, he adds.
The origin of the White Card
El Comercio contacted Luciano Golcanves, president of the Portuguese Referee Federation, to find an explanation for the use of the white card and why it has been used. “It is an initiative of the PNED (National Program for Ethics in Sport) in collaboration with CAJAP (Confederation of Associations of Referees and Referees of Portugal) that began in 2015,” Goncalves begins by explaining from the European country.
“The white/fair-play card is a card that aims to recognize, highlight and reward ethically relevant attitudes and behaviors of athletes, coaches and managers, among other agents directly involved in the game, as well as spectators. It is an educational card”, he adds. That is the true intended use for this card.
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But Luciano Goncalves made it clear that the white card had already been used last year. “It was not the first time that a Portuguese referee used this card. For example, last September, a referee showed a member of Benfica’s medical staff a white card for helping to provide medical assistance to one of the opposing players in the Portuguese Futsal Super Cup between Benfica and Sporting. However, despite the fact that these two examples are the ones that have received the most media attention, we have seen thousands of white cards shown in recent years in the most diverse sports in Portugal”, he said.
In Portugal the white card is used in several of its soccer competitions, but it is not used in the First or Second Division as it is not regulated. “I don’t think it can be applied in League 1. Being something extraordinary would go once morest the spirit of the rule. It would be necessary to see under what circumstances the referee raised the white card ”, César Mongrut tells us.
Indeed. In the FIFA regulations it only reads regarding the well-known yellow and white cards: “The referee has the authority to show yellow or red cards and, when the competition regulations allow it, temporarily exclude a player”, says Rule 12.
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