Three words: Why are we seeing more hair-pulling and is this NWSL's 'red-card era'?

It appears the National Women's Soccer League has entered its red card era. Across 75 matches, 11 have been given, roughly one every 6.82 matches and seven of those were straight reds. Last year, across 182 games the same number of reds was shown. What's more? This year, one offense is occurring with increasing frequency: hair-pulling. Portland Thorns fullback Reyna Reyes, March 20, 57th minute. North Carolina Courage fullback Feli Rauch, May 2, 97th minute. Orlando Pride midfielder Angelina, May 16, 63rd minute. The league decided to punish Reyes and Rauch with an additional match ban. Angelina could receive the same decision, but the league has not made an announcement. After I wrote on March 24 about six red cards in the first 16 fixtures of the 2026 campaign, the situation appeared to settle with no reds in the following 25 games, but the recent uptick is why this week's three words are about the NWSL's red card era. To see if we should be alarmed by the code-red opening to the season, The Athletic spoke to Professional Referee Organization (PRO) general manager Mark Geiger. Geiger spoke on May 1, while our recollection of those six red cards was fresh, our conversation had a theoretical undertone. Almost as though we believed the NWSL had found an equilibrium, that the earlier send-offs were outliers. How naive. The next day, Rauch and Angel City midfielder Maiara Niehues received straight red cards. (San Diego Wave manager Jonas Eidevall was also sent off on May 3.) At what of hair-pulling, which has also risen to prominence recently in the Premier League in England? According to the International Football Association Board (IFAB), hair-pulling is an act of violent conduct. What distinguishes violent conduct from serious foul play is that the latter is centered around the challenging of the ball, Geiger explained. Violent conduct happens outside of that. One of Geiger's theories as to why we're experiencing more hair-pulling and red cards is around the continued professionalization of the sport. "It feels it's happening more. But maybe it's the fact we have more camera angles, or we're catching it more now, or it's more prevalent," he said. The question of why hair-pulling might be happening more frequently is more complicated. "When you talk about hair-pulling, at the lower levels or the younger levels, if it's not dealt with, it becomes a behavior that people find acceptable," Geiger said. That's part of the reason the consideration of intent was removed from IFAB's Laws of the Game several years ago. It's virtually impossible for officials to determine a player's intent, so they look for what Geiger called deliberate action, which he admitted still gets murky with hair-pulling. In each hair-pulling incident this season, you could argue they were all attempting to grab hold of their respective opponents' shirts and inadvertently took a fistful of their hair. A jersey tug usually warrants a foul, perhaps a yellow card depending on the situation, but once hair is involved, the severity of the offense escalates in most cases. "It's understandable," Geiger said of the possibility of accidental hair-pulling. "You use your arms, you use your hands. They're going to move, you need them to run or to jump. So it's possible for a hand to get caught in somebody's hair, and in those cases, we're not looking for action in terms of a red card. "But if you see a deliberate action to reach out and they grab hair, whether they're trying to grab the jersey and they grab hair instead, or they clearly are looking to just go straight for the hair, we expect a red card every time," he said. But why has it become more of an issue now? "You look at the investments in the sport, you look at the salaries players are making, it's really impressive how much the game has grown at every single level," Geiger said. "I'm not saying coaches are coaching this and asking their players to do it, but their job is on the line every single game. A player's job is on the line at the end of the season if they're out of contract, so they're gonna try to take every little edge that they can. And if it means pulling a shoulder or going into a tackle or pulling hair, then they may take that chance. They may take that risk to try to get that little edge over their own opponent." Those risks have yielded mixed results. Reyes and the Thorns pulled off a victory over Seattle Reign despite being down two players. But Rauch and the Courage, as well as Angelina and the Pride, both lost their respective matches. Boston Legacy forward and Canadian international Bianca St-Georges scored the go-ahead goal that sealed the expansion side's first home win in club history on May 3. After a rough start, the club is currently enjoying a five-match unbeaten streak, but will be without St-Georges for at least its next match against the Seattle Reign on Friday. The Pride have been struggling to get back to their historic 2024 campaign in which they claimed the NWSL shield and championship. They were trailing the Denver Summit by two goals last Saturday in the Mile High City when Angelina was shown a red card. The Pride stayed in the game after Golden Boot leader Barbra Banda added to her tally to narrow Denver's lead, but the home side answered a minute later with another goal of their own, bringing the lead to 3-1. The Pride, down a player and scaling an even steeper incline at altitude, were unable to secure road points. Pride manager Seb Hines, who said he would not comment on what he saw of the incident, but did say: "The sending off changes the whole game."