In San Benito's league opener against Palma on Jan. 7, a total of eight yellow cards were handed out to players on both teams.
Play was physical, sure - how can it not be when eight yellow cards are dispersed? Some players left the game with minor injuries only to return later, while others shook off a hard-hit at the point of contact.
But for someone who perhaps didn't witness the San Benito-Palma matchup earlier this season - the two teams finished in a scoreless tie - it'd be easy to misread an eight-yellow card game for something far more violent and extreme, as if there was a brawl scheduled to take place and a high school soccer match broke out in the middle of it.
Cards are up, it seems, and it's no secret that yellow cards have been handed out like candy this season. Six were given out during the San Benito-Salinas girls soccer match on Jan. 22, five more in the San Benito-Gilroy game on Jan. 27.
I'm not going into the whole "When I was young, a yellow card actually meant something" story, but either Hollister has developed the most physical brand of soccer players in the area or referees are going to painstaking lengths to ensure roughhousing never erupts.
In actuality, it's probably a little bit of both, with a slight edge to the latter. Refs don't want to see physical play continue to escalate over the course of the game, which is completely understandable.
But where this becomes a problem is how the rule book views a yellow card, and to the rule book, a yellow card still actually means something, like when I was young.
When a player receives a yellow card, they are forced to sit and can only re-enter the game during an appropriate time of substitution. Fair enough.
If the player receives another yellow card in the same game, however, it is considered a "soft red card" and the player is ejected for the remainder of the game and must serve a one-game suspension for the following game.
Another red card and the player is ejected for the remainder of the season. This includes red cards of the soft variety as well - two yellow cards in the same game - of which three players from San Benito have received already this season.
In other words, the rule-makers mean business.
But isn't this a tad harsh, especially when there were 19 yellow cards handed out in the three games mentioned above? It seems yellow's are being handed out so quickly that coaches might as well sit there yellow-carded players, otherwise completely stress out over any questionable slide tackle that may follow.
Against Gilroy two weeks ago, San Benito's Samantha Moreno was given two yellow cards. Both instances involved the senior fullback going for a free ball against a smaller Gilroy forward, and both instances involved the smaller Gilroy forward flying through the air as a result.
She was carded twice, and was forced to sit out the remainder of the Gilroy game as well as the team's following game against Notre Dame.
But it wasn't dirty, nor was it blatant or even unsportsmanlike. Moreno, who although is a physical player, was simply going for the ball.
Refs are trying to keep players on a short leash, but it may be too short, especially with the already-strict rules in place. In fact, very few of the yellow cards I've seen handed out this season actually warranted a yellow card in the first place.
This is the prep level. Players are still technically learning the game. But while we all want to prevent injuries and serious altercations from ever happening in the first place, the excessive use of cards not only seems to be taking away from an already-physical game, but the actual meaning of the yellow card iself seems to be getting lost in the process as well.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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