Before England's last match, I asked my eleven year old grandson if he knew where Azerbaijan was. To my delight he was able to answer immediately and correctly. Which is more than I've been able to do to the question that I have been inundated with, since the England
v.Azerbaijan international - 'why did David Beckham get a yellow card?'
For those of you who had to go out that evening, let me tell you what we saw on television. David Beckham was wandering around, like the old nursery rhyme, with one shoe off and one
shoe on. He was trying to put the loose boot back on but, when the ball came towards him, he played on with the boot still in his hand. The referee stopped the game and cautioned Beckham. But why?
I was as bemused as Beckham looked when the referee showed him the yellow card. The Laws of the Game do demand that players wear footwear. At one time players could play barefoot but everyone had to do it and not just one individual, now nobody can. There are seven cautionable offences but being 'incorrectly dressed' isn't one of
them.
However, there may be another explanation for the referee reaching for his yellow card, which was pointed out by the television commentators. What we didn't see on television was, that immediately prior to this incident, David Beckham was off the field attending to his footwear. When play restarted, the assistant referee tried to prevent him coming back. Certainly the referee consulted his assistant before reaching for his pocket.
One of those seven cautionable offences is 'entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee's permission'. Although this law can apply to any player who arrives late or a substitute joining the action without asking to do so,
it is mainly used in a couple of situations. First is when a player goes off to receive treatment for an injury. If the injury includes bleeding, the law says, 'The referee ensures that any player bleeding from a wound, leaves the field of play. The player may only return on receiving a signal from the referee, who must be satisfied that the bleeding has stopped'. And now of course, if any blood has spread onto his clothing, that must also be changed before he is allowed to continue.
If there is no bleeding the referee can call the player back on whilst the ball is still in play but will only do so, if the player's re-entry does not immediately affect the play. For example, I recall seeing a match at the Madejski Stadium, where an opposition player had received treatment off the field. As he watched, waiting for the referee to give him the signal to come back, the Reading full back passed the ball up the wing to a colleague. The player who had been injured, rushed on to the field to intercept the pass and received a yellow card for his impetuousness.
The other main reason is when players have been sent off to have some piece of dangerous clothing or equipment either removed or rectified. This might be dangerous studs, or offending jewellery, that sort of thing. In these cases the referee would only give permission for the player to return after he had checked that the offending equipment had been put right. Therefore this would have to be during a stoppage in play.
None of this however seems to fit. There's no suggestion that Beckham's boot was dangerous, he just seems to have taken it off. It remains perplexing but it could have been worse. If Beckham also went off the field of play without the referee's permission, that too is another of the seven cautionable offences. He could have been shown two yellow cards for the same incident and been sent off.