No player wants to receive a yellow or red card during a match — what they do want now is a green card. What’s a green card? A green card is given to a player to reward them for their good sportsmanship and other acts of virtue on the pitch. Chivalry is alive and well.
Green cards can be earned for such actions as stopping play when a player is injured, helping the referee make the appropriate call or admitting to diving.
History was made last week when the first ever green card was given to a player in an Italian Serie B game. Vicenza striker Cristian Galano earned the green card in a match against Virtus Entella.
He was awarded the card after confessing to the ref that the corner he called for Galano’s team should’ve actually been a goal kick. The green card was presented to the player after the final whistle, since green cards are not displayed during the game.
Italian officials state the green card is meant to, “highlight those who help to make the game a game and not a battle by primal instincts.”
Although there is no reward for obtaining a green card, that player is recognized and honored in a symbolic way. That player will also be noted and added to a list of the “most correct” players, which is a list that will be assembled at the end of the season.
“We think that football needs positive messages, this sport is too often embroiled in controversy that drives people away from the stadiums,” a Serie B spokesman stated.
The green card started in Italy’s Serie B league but will later be introduced to other leagues over the upcoming months.
