Who was the first footballer to have a red card rescinded?

The Guardian

16-04-2025

'Who was the first player to have a red card rescinded after a game?' asks Masai Graham.
In September 1969, Northampton Town played away to Swansea in the old Division Four, which is an intro nobody expected to be reading in the year 2025. After 66 minutes their forward Frank Large, frustrated after the referee had given a free-kick against him, booted the ball into the crowd and hit a 12-year-old flush in the face. As Large walked over to apologise, Billy Carroll, a former Swansea player, ran on to the field and chinned him. Large threw hands in response and was sent off.
'That little fellow reminded me of my own son who drowned 12 years ago,' said Carroll, who wrote a letter to the FA disciplinary committee in support of Large. A month later, Large was cleared. 'Having heard the evidence, the commission is satisfied that Large acted in self-defence and was not guilty of violent conduct,' said a spokesman. 'The commission has decided that no further action be taken.'
The red card wasn't officially rescinded, as far as we can tell, but this is an early example of a player avoiding a suspension after being sent off. A similar thing happened to Liverpool's Larry Lloyd. He was dismissed on the opening day of the 1972-73 season for, according to the referee's report, 'choking and kicking' the Manchester City forward Wyn Davies, who had head-butted Lloyd and was also sent off.
Three months and two appeals later, Lloyd's three-match ban was quashed and the red card deemed sufficient punishment. 'We were not satisfied with the referee's report,' said Cliff Lloyd, the secretary of the Professional Footballers' Association, who was representing his namesake, 'and we were fortunate to have the film to show what happened.'
As more games were filmed, the scope for retrospective acquittals – and punishments – increased. But the wheels of justice could have done with some oil. In 1989, West Ham's Mark Ward was sent off for apparently elbowing Colin Pates in an FA Cup tie against Charlton, meaning he would miss the quarter-final against Norwich. The PFA backed Ward's attempt to become have the red card overturned, and the referee Jim Ashworth said he would happily review the incident on video. But the FA's disciplinary code at that time only allowed appeals based on mistaken identity and Ward's three-match ban was upheld. After a goalless draw with Norwich, West Ham lost the quarter-final replay.
A year later, at Italia 90, Fifa decided to reject Rudi Völler's appeal against his one-match suspension when he was sent off for being manhandled and spat on, twice, by Frank Rijkaard in the match against the Netherlands. 'It is not a technical error by the referee against the rules of the game,' said a Fifa spokesman. 'He judged the behaviour unsportsmanlike, ungentlemanly, that is why he showed Völler the red card.'
The earliest example we can find of a red card being formally rescinded occurred the following season. On 23 December 1990, Keith Hackett sent off three players during a Division Two match between Leicester and Watford, including Leicester's acting captain, Paul Ramsey, and Watford's Keith Dublin.
Leicester asked the FA to use video evidence and acquit Ramsey. Their appeal was unsuccessful; it probably didn't help that Ramsey was sent off again before the appeal was heard, which increased his ban from three matches to seven. But Dublin's red card – we're not sure what it was for – was downgraded to a yellow after Hackett watched a video of the incident. He was still banned for two games, though: the yellow card took him past the threshold for a suspension.
The first case we can find in the top flight came at the end of the inaugural Premier League season in 1992-93. Coventry goal machine Mick Quinn was given a second yellow card after shoving Manchester United Peter Schmeichel to the floor. The referee Rodger Gifford thought Quinn had punched Schmeichel; when he saw it again on TV, he wrote in his report that he was wrong to show Quinn a second yellow.
'Mr Gifford informed us that he now finds it inappropriate to have cautioned Quinn on the second occasion,' said an FA spokesman. 'As a result the sending-off offence has been deleted from our records.' But not from Quinn's mind, especially after Schmeichel criticised him in a post-match interview. 'Every time I see Schmeichel's face on the telly,' he said, 'I want to kick the set in.' And that was 11 years later.
'Three players were given second yellow cards in the Crystal Palace v Brighton match,' notes Chris Carter. 'What's the highest number of red cards shown in a game where none were a straight red?'
Giles Leigh is straight in with an old Knowledge favourite: the Battle of Nuremberg at the 2006 World Cup. Portugal beat the Netherlands 1-0 in a last-16 match that ended nine-a-side. All four players – Costinha and Deco for Portugal, Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the Netherlands – were shown a second yellow card.
Pete Tomlin has an even earlier example, although the four second yellows weren't the only red cards of the game. In December 2003, six players were sent off during Barcelona's 3-1 win at Espanyol. Rafa Márquez, Ricardo Quaresma, Toni Soldevilla and Alberto Lopo were all booked twice; Iván de la Peña and Phillip Cocu received straight reds.
In April 2009, an Athletic Bilbao side including Andoni Iraola beat Racing Santander 2-1, but nobody was talking about the goals after the game. Four players – three from Racing, one from Athletic – received second yellows. 'In total, Santander received 12 yellow cards during the game which is a La Liga record for one team in a single match,' adds Pete. 'Bilbao received a mere six yellows and one straight red card by comparison!'
'After yet another impressive season, Wrexham look likely to clinch promotion from League One to the Championship. Should that occur, and Cardiff avoid relegation in the opposite direction, there will be three Welsh sides in the Championship next season (Swansea being the third). When was the last time three or more Welsh sides were in the same division in England?' wonders Steve.
Luka Modric's investment in Swansea has enhanced the feeling that Welsh club football is going places. We think the answer to Steve's question is 1994-95, when Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham were all in the third tier, then known as Division Two. Swansea finished 10th and Wrexham 13th, but Cardiff finished 22nd and were relegated. One of the few high points of their season was a 3-0 win at Wrexham in March, but Wrexham had the last word, beating Cardiff 2-1 in the Welsh Cup final.
The last time there were three Welsh clubs in the second tier of English football, as could be the case next season, was 1980-81. Swansea ruined it by winning their third promotion in four years to complete a remarkable ascent to the top flight.
'Robert Lewandowski has now scored 29 goals in 29 matches against Dortmund since leaving them on a free in 2014. Are there any players that can even come close to this record against a former club?' asks Luke Shuttleworth.
We had this question a few years back, when the answer was – yep – Robert Lewandowski. Here's what we published back then:
Leicester probably weren't Harry Kane's employer when he joined them on loan from Spurs in 2013, but they do count as one of his former clubs. They've also become his favourite opponent: 20 goals in 20 games, including four in a 6-1 win at the King Power Stadium in May 2017.
The man Kane belatedly succeeded at Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski, is top of this particular list. After leaving Borussia Dortmund in 2014, Lewandowski bit the hand that used to feed him 27 times in just 26 games. That's got to hurt.
'Birmingham City lost the EFL Trophy final on Sunday with a 2-0 defeat against Peterborough, just one day after being officially crowned as champions of League One,' writes Andy Palmer. 'Are there any other instances where a club has both lost and won a trophy on the same weekend?'
'When a player leaves, the club normally wishes them well. Are there any examples of clubs not wishing exiting players well, or doing so in a graceless way? What did Chelsea say when Winston Bogarde left?' asks Luke Kelly.
'Ethan Walker has four goals this season for Ayr United in the Scottish Championship. The earliest of these was scored in the 90th minute. Do any other players consistently save their contribution to so late in the game?' wonders Norman Brown.
''Willy Loman Whacks Lee Westwood Lightly With Liquorice.' That's how I'm able to remember Fulham's last eight league results,' notes Andrew Boulton. 'But can anyone provide a longer string of W-L-W-L (etc) results? I hope not, I'd have to rework my mnemonic.'
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