Refs set for whistle-stop tour
From January 1, any player found to have committed one of three professional fouls, racist or sectarian abuse or having remonstrated with a match official will be forced to leave the field and be replaced by a substitute.
A dvd will also be released to educate players, management and officials on what the black card entails, the contents of which will also feature on the official GAA website.
National referees committee chairman Pat McEnaney is adamant there will be no room for excuses when the new regulations commence in 2014.
“We’ll have about eight two-man teams made up of inter-county referees, former ones, referees’ mentors or referee administrators like myself in Ulster and Kevin Walsh in Munster,” said McEnaney.
“It’s going to be intense for us but we have good people involved. We will cover the country in the space of six weeks and hope to have everything covered so that referees have the best preparation done for what comes in January.”
McEnaney understands the black card won’t help to cut cynical play completely — “but it’ll help us in addressing the problem,” he said.
The Monaghan man also revealed high profile inter-county referees could be appointed to pre-season games to get them acquainted with the black card and new advantage rules so they’re up and running by the time the National League begins in February.
As for players and managers being au fait with the new rules, McEnaney said there should be no excuse for ignorance.
“They should be all fully aware of them come January 1. If they aren’t, it won’t be anybody’s fault but their own.”
However, McEnaney is braced for a backlash from some quarters.
“Information on this is going to be available everywhere. The rules of our association have been around for the past 100 years or so but the public still don’t know what some of them are. There are certain people who want to know and then there are those who don’t want to know. But some people just don’t want to listen and that’s something we’re aware of.”
It has already been clarified that a yellow card followed by a black card will be a sending off offence with no replacement permitted.
The public clock will also be introduced for Championship matches next season while referees will be allowed call back play up to five seconds after a player has been fouled if he is deemed not to have attained an advantage. The advantage rule will also be extended to hurling.
After being heavily critical of the standard of refereeing in the smaller ball code this year, McEnaney is pleased there have been improvements this season.
“We have tightened up on our game and it’s no coincidence we’ve had the best Championship in a long time. We’ve improved but there is a lot more to do. We have not done a full analysis of the season yet but there are a couple of areas we can tidy up (on). I’ll speak to my referees first at the review and then I’ll be able to say more then.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
