Last night I received my first red card in over 20 years. Well deserved I'd say and the ref was a fellow friend whom I have worked many games with. But as he showed me the card I was still on the ground (he should have waited until I stood up) and being indoor with overhead lights I couldn't tell if the card was an yellow or a red. Why? He like most of us was using one of those new cards that are more orange than red. It dawn on me that I had seen the confused look before on my games when I showed a red and people thought it was an yellow. So I ask, Why are the new cards more Orange than anything? A quick look at my collection at home and a search on the internet confirmed that most of the higher quality cards nowadays are orange. The only true reds I could find were cheap and usually came with those starter kits we see online. Why?
What kind of lights were in the venue? Many high efficiency lights aren't full spectrum and only emit in a couple colors. sodium vapor, for instance is orange. Mercury vapor is bluish. Both change what the object you are looking at looks like. They "cook" the vapor with traces of other compounds to get other colors ( argon, neon) but the colors will be mostly the natural emitted color of the primary gas and still won't be full range. That why fluorescents such as reading lamps. Try the cards outside in full sun. http://www.edisontechcenter.org/SodiumLamps.html
Not sure why they are orange... There is such a thing as fluorescent red after all... I am using some Adidas cards from japan that are a little redder- here's a comparison with the pro referee and bd cards:
the FIFA ones from this site are kinda orange I guess, but I do not see how they could be mistaken for anything but red when shown to a player. The yellow ones are kinda greenish but again with 2 choices, no way anyone would think it was not yellow.
I use the stater kit red card, because, mmm... it is red, not orangey-redish. For $2, not something I get to worked up about. I too have had questions when I used the orange-red in anger. Not the best time to be adding conversation topics when deploying one. The yellow cards are fine.
Little side question: Anybody use the write on stickers? I have been thinking about switching from the traditional book to stickers? I was thinking about getting these: https://squareup.com/market/custom-referee-supply Anybody recommend this or another brand? Do they all only use pencils or are there ones for pens/markers?
I have tried yellow, full adhesive post-it notes available form office supply stores. http://www.staples.com/Post-it-Super-Sticky-Full-Adhesive-3-inch-x-3-inch-Yellow/product_328499 Not weather proof, but 300 sheets and you can share with other to see it they work. They work OK, but I still use sheets from Official or print my own.
In the pic above, my sets of cards have adidas stickers that I got from japan via rakuten. They are matte and can be written on with pen or pencil. They are disposable- you get ten sets a pack. I have several extra packs- if you want to buy a pack, pm me. I think my cost on them is like $7. There is, as you can see, nowhere to record goals, match info, etc.
People with red-green color blindness might disagree. I'm with something like 10% of American men in having mild red-green color blindness. It comes up in unexpected places sometimes. (Yesterday I found out about a boardgame I can't play because I can't distinguish between two colors they use.) A sufficiently green yellow card, displayed by itself with nothing to compare it to, could vary well be taken to be red by me and others with color sight issues. It also causes me a few games each year to have to apologize to a keeper when I ask him to change jerseys. "I'm sure it contrasts, but I am not able to distinguish the difference."
Yep, been there, done that. Sometimes it's a purple GK vs. blue team or the lime green GK when players are in yellow or bright orange. You feel like an idiot when the other refs tell you "why? that's green", but if you can't tell the difference as the center, they need to change.
I would love to buy some from you. Do you still have any? Sorry, I'm new to this site and don't know how to PM
Just so I'm clear about the stickers, you put them on the back of one of your cards, and when you record goals you're pulling out the card and writing on the sticker? I guess no one is really paying attention when you record goals so there wouldn't be any confusion about you pulling out a card at that moment...?