Antrim’s Sambo latest high-profile figure to criticise new hurling rules

OPPOSITION to the experimental rules in hurling is beginning to snowball with Antrim manager Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton just the latest high-profile figure to call for a retention of the old playing laws.

The GAA’s Head of Games Pat Daly may disagree (see facing page) but grumbles are becoming increasingly audible amongst the hurling fraternity and that spells danger for the chances of the experimental rules being passed by Congress in April when a two-third vote will be required to make them permanent.

John McIntyre, Joe Dooley, Davy Fitzgerald and Joe Canning have all voiced their concerns about the new guidelines and the Antrim joint-manager believes the rules task force should have concentrated their attention elsewhere.

“They should never have been brought in for hurling,” McNaughton said yesterday.

“It’s a football problem. My point is that hurlers are always able to define what is and isn’t a tackle. A dirty tackle and dirty player will always stand out in hurling.

“There’s enough other things they could have looked at. The square ball, for example. I would love to see that done away with because I have never seen a square ball that there wasn’t a row over.”

McNaughton is not blind to the potential benefits the new strictures can offer football but it was interesting to hear that Down legend Seán O’Neill agreed with his point about the same laws being unsuitable to its sister code.

The life of the new rules reaches an important checkpoint this weekend with the first raft of NHL fixtures and the reaction of managers to what happens will be of immense importance.

Opposition to the ‘sinbin’ from men like Brian Cody did for that particular experiment four years ago but McNaughton believes the latest tweaks will stand or fall on the backs of the referees being asked to apply them.

“People like Brian Cody carry a lot of weight. If Brian Cody and a few others come out and say the rules shouldn’t be there you would have to respect what they say.

“We played Laois in the Walsh Cup. Dickie Murphy refereed it and he didn’t really apply the rules because they were terrible conditions. Dickie used common sense. There was boys sliding in but the conditions were more to blame.

“It was a good, tough game of hurling. Some referees, without naming names, think we all come to watch them referee and they are going to get carried away with it. We will see boys running off the field and people won’t know what’s going on.”