Counihan: New rules will make role of referees even harder

ALLIANZ FL DIVISION 1:

Conor Counihan isn’t in the habit of making grand pronouncements on the state of the (football) nation, so it’s all the more interesting when he does discuss the game: where it’s going. How it’s developing. The significance of that black card development.

“My issue with all of these rules is that they need to be trialled. Putting something down on paper is fine, but referees have a difficult enough job as it is. Is this going to make that job easier or harder? I think it’ll make their job harder, trying to weigh up what’s black, what’s yellow, what’s red.

“On top of that you have the advent of the assessor — effectively they’re refereeing the game now, and the element of flexibility for the match referee is more or less gone.”

What about helping the match referee out with a second pair of eyes on the field rather than in the stands? A second referee, a la Australian Rules?

“There’s a certain amount to that,” says Counihan. “It might be worth looking at. But I heard somebody say recently referees should be addressing players by their first names. There’s 32 counties in Ireland. How would anyone be able to remember the names of every player on each county squad? I’d have another issue with that insofar as high profile players are called by their first names — I’ve seen and heard that — but less well-known players aren’t. That’s a lack of respect, that irks people. If I were in that position I wouldn’t be addressing anyone by their name if I didn’t know all their names. It’d be better to use players numbers.”

Counihan doesn’t necessarily agree the game is more cynical now, either.

“Were the tackles tougher before? I’d say they were far tougher in our time. Players got up and got on with it — feigning injury didn’t happen in our time but it seems to have crept in. That is a significant change.”

And have tactics and systems changed the game significantly?

“I don’t believe it’s as big as people have made it out to be. There’s a natural evolution by which things change – what succeeded last year mightn’t succeed this year or next year.

“There’s always an element of that but I don’t think it’s as big an issue as people make out.

“In any season in any sport, early on you’re going to have a degree of experimentation. That’s true of most teams. Once you get to the business end, the championship for us, there’s no more time for that.”

There’s no time this year for Colm O’Neill, who’s sadly out with a third cruciate ligament injury. In addition, the Cork squad have been getting used to new selectors Michael ‘Haulie’ O’Neill, Brian Cuthbert and Ronan McCarthy.

“The way Colm has conducted himself all along, within the squad, when he’s been injured and when he’s been fit, has been first class. We’ll miss him, obviously, though clearly as a team you can’t afford to depend too much on any one player. We’re all adjusting with the new selectors — it’s like bringing in new players to a team — but it’s refreshing to have lads come in with new ideas. No different to the people who went out, they’re very hard-working, and that’s a fundamental for players and management. I’ve been very lucky over the years to have people who’ve been willing to work very hard – there’s a perception that the manager is the be-all and end-all but there’s a lot of delegation, and everyone has a specific job to do.”

He’s been impressed with the men in sky blue this spring.

“They’ve been the most consistent.

“A lot of the other teams, ourselves included, have been a bit up and down in terms of consistency, but it’s a tribute to the depth of talent in Dublin that they’ve been probably the pick of the teams this year so far.”