The red and yellow cards originate from the estate of referee Kurt Tschenscher, who passed away in 2014. They call to mind an important development in the laws of the game and two outstanding German referees. The introduction of red and yellow cards in 1970 revolutionised refereeing. First and foremost, they facilitate on-pitch communication despite constituting personal penalty cards for the players and regularly eliciting protests whenever they are used.
Some of the responsibility for red and yellow cards being invented is borne by the Argentina international Antonio Rattin, who at the 1966 World Cup refused to leave the pitch in the quarter-final against England after several verbal attacks on the referee. The energetic instructions of Rudolf Kreitlein, the German referee who was the target of the insults, did little to clarify the situation. Not until the police intervened and led Rattin away seven minutes later amid abuse from the crowd did the longest sending-off in football history come to an end. For Kreitlein, however, the incident was still not settled.
On the way back from the notorious match, he and Head of World Cup Referees Ken Aston were discussing what could lend weight and clarity to refereeing decisions made on the pitch. The all-important idea eventually came to them while they were waiting at a set of traffic lights. Nevertheless, it took another four years and a host of FIFA committee meetings until the two signal colours were first used on a football pitch.
That moment finally arrived at the 1970 World Cup. And once again, a German referee was involved when Kurt Tschenscher showed the Soviet Union's Kachi Assatiani the first yellow card in football history in the opening game, the original of which is on show here at the museum. He also carried a red card in his pocket, but in what proved to be an exceptionally fair tournament neither he nor his fellow referees were required to make use of it. In Germany, a red card was first used to dismiss a player in a game between Kaiserslautern and Oberhausen in October 1970. According to the match report, the Oberhausen striker Lothar Kobluhn was sent off for making "inarticulate noises".
Kreitlein and Tschenscher ranked among the best referees in the world at the time. Both officiated at three World Cups and took charge of many important domestic and international matches. Who knows? Maybe they would never have had to brandish a card if Antonio Rattin had shown exemplary behaviour of the type one would normally expect of an Argentina captain.
Deutsches Fußballmuseum