The Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 campaign was breathtaking from start to finish. With multiple teams fighting each other for just four spots, the matches could have been physical battles with players getting booked left, right, and center. But, that was not the case.

This was the cleanest Hero ISL season ever in terms of least bookings made by the referees. As you can see below, on average, only 0.10 red cards were given out every game and even the yellow cards per game dropped down to 3.43. This is a massive improvement from the Hero ISL 2020-21 season that saw 4.03 yellow cards being handed out every single game.

Metrics

2021-22

2020-21

2019-20

2018-19

2017-18

2016

2015

2014

Yellow Cards per game

3.43

4.03

4.34

3.58

3.55

3.84

4.1

3.75

Red Cards per game

0.10

0.19

0.23

0.32

0.21

0.25

0.13

0.23

The improvement in player quality, defensive ability, and composure could be certain key factors behind this development. It would be interesting to see if this continues to improve in the next Hero ISL season.