[Ads-l] "red card" and "yellow card" n. (football/soccer) (Oct 28, 1968)

[Dan Goncharoff]

What about "to book" meaning given a red or yellow card?

DanG

On Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 6:18 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has an entry for the noun "yellow
> card" in the football/soccer domain with a 1969 citation.
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> yellow card noun
> 3. Sport (originally Football (Soccer)). A yellow card shown by the
> referee to a player, coach, or team official to indicate that he or
> she has received a caution or temporary suspension …
> Yellow cards were first introduced for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
>
> 1969 A yellow card will indicate a caution and a red card, 'sent off'.
> Guardian 13 June 18/6
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> The OED also has an entry for the noun "red card" with the same
> citation. Here is a 1968 citation which uses both "yellow card" and
> "red card" with the desired sense.
>
> Date: October 28, 1968
> Newspaper: Daily Mirror
> Newspaper Location: London, England
> Article: These Violent Mexican Fans Threaten World Cup
> Subsection: Yellow
> Quote Page 31, Column 2
> Database: British Newspaper Archive
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> He had been booked earlier under a new system invented by Rous after
> the confusion of the last World Cup when players did not learn until
> long after the matches that they had been officially cautioned.
>
> Now, when a referee shows a player a yellow card, it means a final
> warning. A red card means he is off.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
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>

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