Welcome, everybody to soccer 101, the show in which we attempt to scratch the soccer

itches you never knew you had.

My name is Taylor Rockwell, and this week we're pondering a curious rule that has had

some interesting impact.

Why does a player receive a yellow card for taking off their shirt in celebration?

It seems innocuous enough, but attempts to explain the rule inevitably devolve into conspiracies about

greed, sponsorship, and FIFA's authoritarian approach or perceived authoritarian approach. But let's

not get ahead of ourselves because I still need to introduce my co-host, a man who is recording,

I'm checking here, yes, is wearing a shirt, has not yet been booked. It's Graham Ruffin. Graham,

thank you for keeping your shirt on through that introduction. Hello, Taylor Rockwell. I was

actually going to do a bit and say that both of us had our shirts off in tribute for this episode,

obviously being an audio medium. Listeners can't see that. But yeah, you've given the game away now. I do have have a shirt on but we'll see how long that lasts throughout the episode so many different Scottish Premiership clubs on Graham's torso I knew that there was a Celtic on there I knew Sterling was on there even though they're not a Premishship club yet but Rangers I, Aberdeen in there. Scott Brown's face as well,

round, around here, around the corner. Hearts on one side of the ribs, Hibs on the other side. And I mean that internally. He's got the internal Hibbs tattoo. You know how you see those maps that you can buy and you can frame the map of a country and it plots every club in that country, that's essentially

what my torso looks like. I mean, I appreciate it.

That's a what my torso looks like.

I mean, I appreciate it. That's a dedication to Scottish football gram. But we do have our

shirts on. We have not been booked. But we had this question suggested by a listener. And it's one

of those ones that I love because it's a minor thing, but it is still one that I think anybody who's watching

soccer and sees a player celebrates going the winner and then taking the shirt off and then

seeing a yellow card be produced. That's a little bit confusing. This question popped up in the

past World Cup when Vincent Abubacar, after scoring that great goal, takes his shirt off to celebrate.

He was already on a yellow. He gets a second yellow and gets a red card for that one.

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