Warnings and suspensions

    Hockey uses a three-tier penalty card system of warnings and suspensions:

• A green card is fairly similar to a football yellow card: the player does not have to leave the pitch (although at international standard the player has to leave the field for two minutes), but any further infractions will result in a yellow or red card.
• A yellow card is an official suspension similar to the penalty box in ice hockey. The duration is decided by the umpire issuing the card and the player must go to a pre-defined area of the pitch as chosen by the umpires at the beginning of the match. Most umpires will opt for a minimum of five minutes' duration without substitution; the maximum time is at the discretion of the umpire, depending on the seriousness of the offence, for example the second yellow to the same player or the first for danger might be given ten minutes. It is possible to yellow-card a player for the entirety of a game. (In some modes, including indoor, shorter periods of suspension are applied, dependent on local rules).
• A red card, just like in association football, is a permanent exclusion from the rest of the game, without substitution, and it usually results in the player being banned for a certain period of time or number of matches (this is governed by local playing conditions, rather than the rules of field hockey). The player must also leave the pitch and surrounding area.