Penalty points could stop players’ licence to foul

THE introduction of a penalty points system for persistent offenders in Gaelic Games would be favoured by Association President Sean Kelly.

Reacting yesterday to the spate of dismissals in the second round Allianz NFL games, Mr Kelly said it was something of a farce when a player yellow-carded once in a series of games escaped punishment whereas two in the same match merited instant dismissal.

Interestingly, however, GPA Chief Executive Dessie Farrell expressed the view that it would be hard to justify on the basis of a lack of consistency in refereeing standards.

Sean Kelly said he intended raising the issue with the GAC. The idea of penalising constant offenders was something that needed to be “strongly looked at”.

Among several high-profile referees I spoke with yesterday, one came out strongly in favour of a form of penalty points system. Wishing to remain anonymous, he said: “In submitting our report, we are required to write down the names of the players who receive yellow cards. But, it’s a waste of ink. Because it would be seen as following soccer, they would not like to introduce it. It works in soccer. It has to come in.”

The GAA President said he would be meeting with a number of team managers this week and he would raise the idea of a points system.

In general, he agreed that there was now much more confrontation and physical contact in Gaelic football. Hence the increasing use of cards to penalise persistent fouling. “The referees are cracking down. They are implementing the rules, which is what they are asked to do.’’

Dessie Farrell said that he did not know how players would react to a proposal to take action against players against whom there would be an accumulation of (single) yellow cards. “If an incident does not warrant a sending-off, that is what the yellow card is for, a warning. A player knows if he steps over the line again he will get a second card and be sent off,’’ he said.

“The problem is that there is a lot of inconsistency in refereeing. What is a yellow card one day is not the next day. It would be difficult to implement a system whereby there would be a follow through on consistency across the board.

I think one card is sufficient and I’d say that most players are happy with that!’’

Referees admit privately that there is a lack of consistency at the top level. In general, there would appear to be sympathy towards Kerry midfielder Seamus Scanlan for the red card he received in Saturday night’s televised game against Cork. In contrast, it was felt that a Westmeath player was lucky to escape instant dismissal against Cork the previous week for bringing down his opponent after a high tackle.

“The general public, and the media to a certain extent, don’t want to see free after free being awarded.

“But, if a referee doesn’t start like that and continue, he runs the risk of losing control of the game,’’ said one referee.

For his part, Sean Kelly re-iterated the view conveyed to referees at recent meetings that they need to be more consistent.