What do yellow and red cards mean in rowing?
A · Advanced · Penalties, protests and weather · 6 of 12A yellow card is a formal warning to a crew for breaking the rules. It stays with the crew until the race it applies to is over. Two yellow cards for the same race become a red card, which puts the crew out of every round of that event. The glossary lists the pair as yellow card and red card.
How it works
The rules list five sanctions, from lightest to heaviest:
- Reprimand: a formal telling-off. It may count against the crew if it breaks the rules again at that regatta.
- Yellow card: a formal warning.
- Relegation: the crew is placed last in the race, where a rule specifically provides for it.
- Red card: exclusion from all rounds of the event, for a serious or repeated breach.
- Disqualification: removal from all events in the regatta, for the most serious breaches.
About the yellow card:
- How long it lasts: it lapses only when the race is concluded, so it survives a postponement or a re-row.
- Two make a red: a crew given two yellow cards that apply to the same race is given a red card and excluded from the event.
- Typical causes: a false start, arriving late at the start, breaking the traffic rules while warming up.
- How the crew is told: at once or as soon as possible. A card that applies to a crew's next race is announced by the starter after "Two minutes", and a yellow marker goes beside its lane.
- The time limit: a sanction about the conduct of a race must be given and communicated to the crew no later than one hour after the race is concluded.
Tricky cases
Does a yellow card add time or cost a place?
No. It is a warning. Its weight is that a second one for the same race means exclusion.
A crew got a yellow card in its heat. Does it carry into the semifinal?
No. A yellow card lapses when the race it applies to is concluded.
A crew broke the traffic rules while cooling down after its heat. Which race does the card apply to?
Its next race. The card is announced to the crew when it boats for that race, or by the starter.
Can a crew with a red card still start and argue later?
No. A crew given a red card "shall not participate in the race once notified".
Why the rule exists
Not every breach deserves the end of a crew's regatta. The yellow card gives officials a penalty that costs nothing by itself and leaves the crew no room for a second mistake in that race.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| World Rowing rules | As above | RR 66 and bye-law |
| Top regattas | A sanction that applies to a later session is given to the team manager in writing | RR 66 bye-law (2) |
| The crew's federation | The Executive Committee may add a sanction on the member federation | RR 66 (2, 3) |
From the rule book
World Rowing Rules of Racing and Related Bye-Laws (Overall and Classic Rowing), Rules 54, 66, 68 and 83 and the bye-laws to Rule 66. Last updated 1 July 2025. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: World Rowing Rules of Racing (PDF).