Six proposals to help referees rid football of rampant cynicism

The game is up now, of that there could be no doubt. The argument is no longer about whether cynicism exists in Gaelic football but how it thrives.

Nobody in the corridors of Croke Park celebrated Sean Cavanagh’s foul on Conor McManus seven days ago but that moment couldn’t have helped their campaign more.

Forget what followed. That one of the poster boys of Gaelic football felt he had to resort to such a professional foul — and not for the first time — was enough to crystalise the habit that’s hurting the game.

Cries of sanitising Gaelic football can now be chided. Shouts of it becoming a non-contact sport can be ignored. They just don’t wash. The black card will, of course, have teething problems.

When no referee seems capable of distinguishing feigning injury, which is a yellow card offence, how are we supposed to expect them to identify what are and aren’t deliberate fouls?

It alone is not going to make life easier for them. What can? Here we line out six proposals to help them and Gaelic football:

1. The sin bin is better than the black card

The black card, as a measure aimed at curbing cynicism, should be given time to bed down but when there is a superior alternative in the sin bin there has to be concerns. The only way a team can be effectively punished for cynical play by a player is by losing him for a period of the game. The black card is nothing but an inconvenience to a manager who, yes, has to substitute at a time when he may not wish, but still retains the power to choose who he brings on as a replacement. Down to 13 men last Saturday, Tyrone would have been severely punished for Cavanagh’s foul. Indeed, it would have made them him twice about taking down McManus as he did. Cast aside the arguments that it is a measure that apes rugby; gleaning an idea from a sport where their disciplinary system ranks among the best in the world shouldn’t be easily dismissed.

2. Cumulative yellow card suspensions must be introduced

On The Sunday Game last weekend, presenter Des Cahill rightly put it to the panel that the GAA had rowed back on the FRC’s initial proposals on cynicism. Believed to be too strict, cumulative yellow card bans never made it to the Clár in Derry. It had been put forward that any player who picks up three yellow cards in the course of one season would be banned for two games. That was a bit extreme but when high-powered figures such as referees chief Pat McEnaney said it shouldn’t apply to All-Ireland semi-finals so as to ensure no-one missed out on a final on that count it only muddied the waters further. A total of three yellow cards across a competition (ie league or Championship) amounting to a one-game suspension regardless of missing out on an All-Ireland final would have been a more appropriate idea. If the sin-bin punishes the offending team then the cumulative rule would exist to punish the offending player. Incidentally, Cavanagh would have been suspended for their All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo under the original FRC idea.

3. Let referees stop the clock

It’s amazing in this day and age referees still don’t have the power to stop their watch between awarding a free and whistling for the resultant free to be taken. Then again, it won’t be until next year that they are armoured in Gaelic football with an advantage rule that truly works in favour of the fouled player and his team. Bringing the ball forward 10 metres for dissent or an attempt to slow up the game is a tool not used as much as it should be by referee’s and to think that they would be keener to bring forward the ball 30m as opposed to 10m (the defeated FRC recommendation) is wishful thinking. Croke Park are particularly strong on time being kept in the hands of the ref. If so, they should be masters, not prisoners, of it.

4. Promote the foot-pass

Let’s be honest: the prevalence of the hand-pass has helped to cultivate the uglier elements of modern day Gaelic football. If rugby is about moving forward through the hands while moving the ball back, Gaelic football, for some counties and in a number of games, has become a version of it minus the requirement that the ball be handled behind the line of play. Putting a limit on the hand-pass would be a draconian move, which would backfire and encourage teams to augment their already heaving defences as a means of pressurising the attacking team. Let’s be positive and incentivise the foot-pass. Make a point worth twice its value if the move has included two kick-passes.

5. Punish cynicism with a close-range free in the last 10 minutes

Prior to last weekend, Ciarán Whelan and John Bannon argued in favour of awarding close-range frees for cynical fouls made in the last 10 minutes of games. Now where’s the problem with that? Under a sin bin or black card system, the player would be punished but his team would also suffer with effectively a penalty score against them. McManus kicked over the easy free following Cavanagh’s desperate tackle but a similar foul anywhere on the field would result in the same close-range free being given. If the GAA are serious about it, it’s on the scoreboard where they should be guaranteeing sides are suitably admonished.

6. Time-wasting must be seen as a cynical offence

Just as unwelcome and unsavoury are teams’ attempts to distract referees, not standing back the required 13 metres, holding onto the ball or simply refusing to give the ball back. The GAA has a couple of options: empower refs with the authority to award a close-range free or issue a black card to the player guilty of such cynicism.