Before the introduction of the whistle, football (soccer) referees indicated their decisions by waving a handkerchief.
Whistles were not introduced until the late 1870′s when they became widely available after Joseph Hudson of the ACME Whistle Company first began to mass produce them for the Metropolitan Police Service.
Some sources state that the first use of a referee’s whistle was in a game between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Norfolk in 1878; however there was no such fixture that year between these clubs.
Red and yellow cards were introduced by the world football governing body, FIFA, after the infamous Antonio Rattin incident when the Argentinian captain failed to understand that he had been sent off in a match against England at Wembley. The language barrier was clearly a problem in international matches. The referee in that match, Ken Aston came up with the idea while he drove home: ”As I drove down Kensington High Street, the traffic light turned red. I thought, ‘Yellow, take it easy; red, stop, you’re off’.”
The cards were first used in the 1970 world cup finals in Mexico, although their adoption was not universally accepted. Twice in the English football league (in 1980/81 and 1987/88) their use was suspended for a short time.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/The_first_time_red_and_yellow_cards_where_used_in_the_football_league#ixzz1HoYYjOsQ
