The National Women’s Soccer League on Thursday announced additional one-game suspensions for red cards handed to North Carolina Courage defender Feli Rauch and Angel City midfielder Maiara Niehues over the weekend.
Rauch, a German international, was shown a red after she contested a ball in the air against a Kansas City Current player and pulled her hair in the process. Niehues, a Brazilian international, was given a straight red card during first-half stoppage time of Angel City’s match against the Utah Royals after striking an opponent on the back after the player committed a foul against one of Niehues’ teammates. Both Angel City and North Carolina were home sides in those Saturday matches, and both lost.
According to the NWSL news release on the suspensions, “… the Disciplinary Committee determined that both incidents rose to the level of a violation of Section 12.4.11, ‘Major Game Misconduct,’ of the League Operations Manual. As a result, each player has been issued an additional one-match suspension, increasing their total suspensions to two matches.”
Rauch will be unavailable for North Carolina’s matches against the Orlando Pride on Friday and the Chicago Stars on May 16.
In addition to missing Angel City’s clash against the San Diego Wave this Saturday, Niehues will serve a suspension against the Portland Thorns on May 17.
This week’s decisions reflect a growing trend in women’s soccer of harsh fouls that increasingly involve hair pulling.
In the first six games of the NWSL’s opening weekend, two had red cards. By the end of the following match week ending March 22, four more players had been sent off, including two Portland Thorns players in the same match. One of them, Reyna Reyes, received a straight red for pulling the hair of a Seattle Reign opponent when the two contested a 50-50 ball, similar to last weekend’s incident involving Rauch.
While Reyes and Rauch received the same punishment of an additional match ban on top of the requisite one, the league has demonstrated its willingness to escalate repercussions further depending on the severity of the offense. Last season, Racing Louisville forward Kayla Fischer was suspended for two additional matches after being given a red card for pulling the hair of an Angel City player in a May 24 match.
Although the decision in most instances of hair pulling is a direct red card, there has occasionally been controversy around the call itself (or lack thereof). When Chelsea and Arsenal faced off in the second leg of a Champions League quarterfinal on April 1, Arsenal fullback Katie McCabe was not disciplined after she pulled the hair of Chelsea and U.S. women’s national team forward Alyssa Thompson. That decision incited such a reaction from Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor that she was sent off the pitch after receiving two yellow cards in quick succession. (Arsenal won the series and advanced.)
The suspensions themselves have proven costly to teams. Bayern Munich fullback Franziska Kett received a red card for pulling the hair of a Barcelona player in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal on April 25. The defender (who scored Bayern’s only goal in that match) was sidelined from the high-stakes second leg the following weekend. Barcelona beat Bayern 4-2 to advance to the finals.
As the NWSL enters its ninth match week, officials have issued a total of 10 red cards — nine to players and one to a coach, San Diego Wave manager Jonas Eidevall. Should any teams competing for a spot in the playoffs be tied on points at the end of the season, the decision of who goes on could come down to the number of disciplinary actions a team has received.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
North Carolina Courage, Angel City, NWSL, Women's Soccer
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