United no longer tried to fool ref when picking up yellow card at the start (8)
I believe the answer is:
divorced
'united no longer tried to fool ref' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'when picking up yellow card at the start' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'dived' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'picking up' indicates putting letters inside.
'yellow' becomes 'or' (heraldic term).
'at the start' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'card' is 'c'.
'or'+'c'='orc'
'dived' going around 'orc' is 'DIVORCED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for divorced that I've seen before include "separated" , "Of marriage, legally terminated" , "Of married couple, legally parted" , "No longer married" , "disbanded union" .)