GAA’s yellow peril raised once more

CROKE PARK found itself fending off criticism on more than the one front yesterday and it was the familiar issue of discipline that was causing almost as much consternation as the confusion over the handpass ruling.

Some 36 yellow cards were flashed during the three championship fixtures in Ulster, Munster and Leinster on Sunday afternoon. A further five red were issued. It made for an unedifying start to the code’s most important competition. Wicklow manager Mick O’Dwyer labelled some of the decisions in their clash with Carlow as “crazy” and accused Croke Park of trying to “destroy” the game. Though that fixture in Portlaoise produced the most cards – 17 yellow and three red – the tie between Armagh and Derry in Celtic Park coughed up a shocking 69 frees. The flurry of cards on the opening weekend has resurrected memories of the infamous Leinster SFC of Westmeath and Carlow in 1999 when six players were sent to the line. That was the first game in which yellow and red cards were used and the manner in which Niall Barrett, the referee 11 years ago, interpreted the laws led to a huge amount of introspection and confusion at the time. Year after year, there have been suggestions that referees come under greater pressure from Croke Park to “come down heavy” on the disciplinary front at the start of the summer but that theory was dismissed yesterday.

“The referees were brought in last weekend and they were, quite simply, asked to apply the rules to the best of their ability,” said the GAA’s match official manager Pat Doherty.

“There’s no such thing as us telling them to crack down on A, B or C. They are asked to implement the rules, all of the rules, to the best of their abilities. That has happened, without question, but there wasnever a case of us saying to concentrate on A, B or C. It’s a case of implementing rules as they are written.”

Doherty, who took this role at the start of 2010, said he was not in a position to talk about previous campaigns but he was firm in stating that at no time have individual rules been stressed to referees prior to games. Croke Park has met with match officials five times since last November but, while referees last weekend were quick to clamp down on illegal hand passes, there was less attention given to another new ruling. Time and again in Celtic Park, players took sideline balls from a standing spot inside the touchline. That is now an offence since a motion passed at April’s Congress, but referee Maurice Deegan failed to penalise a single player.

“I know there was one featured on The Sunday Game and I spoke to the referee on Sunday night,” said Doherty. “He told me it wasn’t a line ball, it was a free. It’s selective.

“Other ones I cannot comment on, but the rule is quite clear. The line ball must be taken from outside the sideline. It’s a motion that came from Leitrim and the boundary lines are there to be abided by.”