A-League Disciplinary Regulations

Major reforms of the A-League Disciplinary Regulations in time for the 2007/2008 A-League season made an area of major concern and complaint for players an area of strength for the players, the league and, indeed, the game as a whole.

Major reforms long advocated by the PFA became reality with the introduction of:

the right of a player to challenge a red card where the referee has made an obvious error;
increasing the number of yellow cards resulting in suspension from 4 to 5; and
introducing a 3 yellow card rule for the A-League Finals Series.

These changes produced some positive statistical results:

ISSUE	2008/2009	2007/2008
Players suspended – accrual of cautions (yellow cards)	10	38
Player expulsions (red cards)	22	28
Player citations (offences that escaped the referee’s attention)	2	5
Disciplinary Hearings	1	10

Further, there was not a repetition of the 2005 or 2006 A-League Grand Finals which saw Mark Milligan (Sydney FC) and Matthew Kemp (Adelaide United) suspended for having accrued second yellow cards.