Opinion: Why does RSL pick up so many yellow cards?

Time to pull out the tin foil hats.

I know people will immediately dismiss this as a bitter fan upset that his team lost but I assure you that is not the case.

What does the league and its referees have against Real Salt Lake?

Seriously.

Did you watch the last game? Of course RSL had no business even being in that game with only 2 starters even playing at all (one of the 2 being sick enough that he was subbed out). I'm not saying that Dallas didn't deserve the win necessarily but I am saying that the result was not fair.

First let's review the last game then we'll get to the bigger issues.

How is a two-footed studs exposed challenge (by Jackson?) not a red card every single time (or at least a yellow)? How did RSL get a card for diving when there was in fact contact and the player jumped up immediately and continued playing? How did Cooper not get a yellow for diving when he went down in the box faked an injury for a minute and looked at the ref and just got a talking to? How did Jackson or Ferreirra not get a yellow card for diving when considering what Alvarez got carded for? How does RSL get 4 cards and Dallas gets zero? How is their not a PK for the pulling down with both hands Sandoval as he turned to try and shoot a half volley (almost immediately after Garcia's header that he nearly scored immediately after coming in) in the box?

That was just one game, and I'm sure I missed some things. This happens pretty much every single week.

Now to the bigger issue..Why it seems like the league or at least the refs are against RSL.

For this year alone RSL is currently in a 4 way tie for 10th in fouls committed with 46 for the year. So teams that have the same or more fouls committed would be Chivas (76), NYRB (65), Sporting (62), Chicago (54), Montreal (49), Colorado (48), Columbus (48), Toronto and San Jose (47), and finally Philadelphia, New England, Dc United and RSL (46). Considering that RSL is tied for 10th with 4 teams they could easily be 14th in fouls committed.

Here is the kicker; RSL is 3rd in yellow cards. Chivas is first with 11, then Sporting with 10, then RSL with 9 (and a red). Chivas' rate of fouls committed to yellow cards received is 6.91, Sporting is at 6.1 and RSL is the league leader at 5. This means about every 5th time RSL commits a foul they are shown a yellow card. Here is a table I've made to show the league numbers:

Is Dallas basically getting away with murder right now? Pretty much. Is RSL almost exactly the opposite? Pretty much. One thing I found pretty surprising is that LA is getting carded at a higher than league average rate. So at least for this year we can say that they aren't being favored in that regard.

Here would be the table for last year:

And just for fun here is one more year 2011's numbers:

The totals since 2011:

*Montreal was not in the league in 2011.

Some interesting things to take out of this; RSL's current yellow card to foul rate is a historic level. Getting a yellow card per 5 fouls is such a high rate. To put into perspective that is almost double the lowest rate in a full season when Colorado only got a yellow every 10 fouls in 2012. Only LA, San Jose, and NYRB get yellow cards at a higher rate than RSL. I don't think anyone who has watched the league would be surprised at NYRB or San Jose getting a lot of cards, I'm not going to say they are a dirty team but let's just say they aren't the cleanest teams. LA is also not surprising because they have a lot of confrontations and Beckham mouthing off to refs in nearly every game. To be honest I thought they would be even higher just from my own observations.

The question is why is RSL so high? It is a tactical reason? Do Kreis, Cassar and Brown teach RSL to be over aggressive? I'll be the first to vilify and admit sometimes certain players have definitely crossed the line and made some dirty plays (Beckerman, Johnson, Espy, etc.) but I never once have thought any RSL player was trying to injure the other team. Even when they cross the line they do it in a safer way, I would never think an RSL player would pull a Mullan or Mondaini type of tackle. Would a RSL player head-butt someone or make a tackle that would hurt (but not injure) a player to send a message? Absolutely. Would they try and injure someone, I really doubt it.