The Card Crazies

You know these ones. They're the parents who scream for a yellow or red card when a foul occurs (or they think one occurs).

That's a card, ref

You've got to pull a card out for that one.

The absurdity of these claims are extreme. First of all, very few of these parents are trained referees, and while referees often get it wrong, they are at least trained to judge things like intent, seriousness of the foul, consistent patterns. These parents see something they don't like and immediately call for the card.

Secondly, do they actually think that yelling for a card will cause the ref to award one?

Oh, now that I've been reminded by the sideline, I do think that I shall award a yellow card to that player

Unlikley. And when parents begin yelling for cards, it's an insult to the parents on the other sideline. Typically, they respond by issuing their own call for cards. So, now you have two sets of idiots issuing congtradictory calls for referee action.

This fosters antagonism between the parents. Not a good thing. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen a fight break out between parents over this yet.

Here's an idea for an automatic red card rule. Any parent heard shouting for a card shall immediately be awarded one in the color of red and ejected from the sideline. For good measure, let's make them sit in their car for the next 3 games.