Pundits in denial about threat of tactical fouling

PAT SPILLANE makes no apologies for being a GAA romantic. Unfortunately for the viewers of RTÉ, Pat suffers from a strain of footballing romance which is of the Mills and Boon variety – it is largely fictional and entirely predictable.

Pat dreams of the day when footballers will be able to run gaily through the field without any fear of getting clogged up in the congestion of a screen defence. When Pat criticised referee Martin Sludden for showing six yellow cards in the first half of Sunday’s game in Casement Park, he displayed an ignorance and naivety about the cynicism of the modern footballer and the modern game.

Bemoaning Sludden’s style of refereeing, Pat said: “A yellow card should be a serious deterrent for a serious foul. Yellow cards are being thrown out like confetti at a wedding. You are often wondering if there was a foul there or not. A yellow card should be for dangerous play.”