orange card

plural orange cards

1. hobbiesA proposed or hypothetical card indicating a foul as too serious for a yellow card but not serious enough for a red card.

   55 min Stones is caught by Fred, who has been booked. It’s an orange-card offence at most, but City are starting to take control of this game.

   2023 June 3, Rob Smyth, “Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United: FA Cup final 2023 – as it happened”, in The Guardian

   3 more examples

   After only being shown a booking by referee Anthony Taylor for what Jamie Carragher called an “orange card tackle”, former Chelsea star Mata had the audacity to score United’s third goal in a one-sided victory.

   2017 February 5, Neil Custis, “Juan of those days”, in The Irish Sun

   31 min: Now Dier’s booked for a tackle so absurd he managed to take out Moses and David Luiz at the same time. […] 36 min: On reflection, that Dier tackle on Luiz probably merited an orange card. He does some silly things at times.

   2017 August 20, Jacob Steinberg, “Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened”, in The Guardian

   Instead players guilty of, say, a reckless but unintentional high tackle this autumn can be replaced by a teammate after 20 minutes, a trial initiative designed to soften the impact of some of the marginal reds that influenced some big games last season. […] How much easier it would be to show an orange card for such offences

   2024 November 1, Robert Kitson, “Borthwick’s England face All Blacks test in fixture that still stirs the soul”, in The Guardian