That's what I reckon anyway. Clearly it would be foolish to allow the appeal of each and every yellow card that anybody ever gets, but in cases like Rafael's, where one of the yellow cards is so obviously given wrongly, you should be able to appeal either the first or second yellow card.
Quite often you see cases where a player gets booked for something as small as jumping for a header, and accidentally catching his marker in the head. That isn't a yellow. Refs need to show some common sense. How are you supposed to jump for a ball without your arms? Kicking the ball away, taking your shirt off to celebrate, accidental handballs, I know that by the letter of the law they are yellow card offences, but it's a soft contribution to an early shower.
In Rafael's case, he clearly had his hands up in an “I'm trying not to touch this guy” fashion, as he tried not to touch that guy, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, but ever so slightly clipped his heels and in the process sent Benoit tumbling. The ref had a great view but still decided Rafa needed a yellow and he had every right to feel aggrieved at the decision. I'm not saying it's right to react as he did, but I've seen many others react worse than that when being cautioned for far worse things. Think about it, there were 30,000 odd other people in the stadium on Sunday who are allowed to react in whatever way they choose, yet we expect the people in the thick of things to act like angels.
I just hope the FA decide to be lenient, as Rafael awaits his personal hearing after being charged with misconduct for his behaviour after seeing red. They should just give him a slap on the wrist and be done with it, but i expect they'll make an example of him.
If my masterplan was in place and clubs were able to appeal a yellow when it has contributed to a red, it's probably pretty likely that you wouldn't see these kinds of reactions from players. Rafael probably would have just walked off, still pissed off with the decision, but without hoofing a microphone, and Wayne Rooney wouldn't have needed to be booked for his dissent either. You can appeal against straight reds, so why not double yellow dismissals.
Basically all I'm saying is, put me in charge of the FA and English football would be a much happier place.