Rules contradiction put paid to amnesty on cards

Eugene McGee explained the All-Ireland senior football final amnesty on cumulative black and yellow cards was culled because it would have contradicted the permanent match ban motion.

McGee’s Football Review Committee (FRC) are proposing any player who receives either three black cards or three double yellow cards over the course of a season would miss one game. However, they had made special dispensation for the All-Ireland final, a stipulation which received the backing of referees chief Pat McEnaney.

That exception was ruled out when the list of motions for Congress later this month was revealed on Wednesday. When it was realised the motion would contradict the match bans’ proposal, the dispensation was removed.

“That decision, as is often the case with the GAA, rose from another decision,” said McGee. “There’s a motion going through Congress to make the match ban permanent at inter-county level.

“There was no point in having a conflict of interest between two rules with one rule saying you’d be suspended for the final and the other saying your suspension would be lifted for the final.

“The only obvious way to do it was to make match suspensions applicable to them all.”

McGee admits he doesn’t yet know how the black card motion will fare at Congress but believes county boards are giving a lot of thought to the FRC’s proposals.

McGee feels the committee members’ briefings at all four provincial conventions were worthwhile exercises.

“We’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to talk to people and brief them and ask their opinions.

“I’d be very open to talking to people about them (proposals) especially the black card because it only relates to three [playing offences — deliberately pulling down, tripping or bodychecking an opponent].

“If the motion is passed, by the time next January comes around and it kicks in, everybody will know what those fouls are because they’ll be famous. It’ll be easy for people to remember what they are and it’ll be easy for referees to administer them as well so I don’t think there will be any ambiguity if they do kick in.”

McGee understands why some managers have aired their reservations about recommendations such as the black card.

“As a former manager, I understand you don’t want to change the current environment because that’s the one you practise in and the one in which you’ve done your homework.

“I understand managers say ‘we’re grand the way we are’ but it’s only a handful of managers who are opposed and they are entitled to be opposed to it.

“Can anybody honestly say if you take a fella down or trip him that it’s not worthy of penalising? That’s the question managers have to answer.

“Otherwise, they are defending those crimes not being punished.”