Ref chief angry at red card reversals
The Monaghan native was speaking in Tralee on Saturday morning and was reacting to the news that Castlebar Mitchels’ Barry Moran had his Connacht club final red card overturned by the Connacht Council the previous night.
“It’s very disappointing from where I sit,” said McEnaney. “The message I always try to get across to referees is that we do our job to the best of our ability. I don’t care what happens afterwards in committee meetings.
“We make mistakes on the pitch and mistakes are made in committee rooms but I don’t want the finger of blame always pointing at referees.”
The National Referees Association chairman added: “In the position I hold I have to be concerned with it and I am disappointed. There have been some blatant red cards issued this year that should not have been overturned.”
McEnaney was in the Kingdom to give a talk to referees, coaches and the media about the impending football rule changes. During a two-hour session at the IT Tralee — before a sparse attendance — McEnaney produced the argument for the new rules. The black card will issued for deliberate body-checking, hand-tripping or pulling down of an opponent.
“We want to get rid of cynical behaviour. That’s why we have used the term ‘deliberate’. We, as an association, need to move forward and in fairness we have a great record of getting it right.
“Of all the rule changes introduced at Congress only the handpass had to be returned. Remember the time of the square ball rule being introduced last year?
“People thought goalkeepers would get killed. They didn’t, and the rule has made the job of referees easier.”
When quizzed from the floor as to what is ‘deliberate’, McEnaney responded: “It is an insult to my intelligence as a referee if I can’t tell the difference between deliberate and a clash of two bodies.”
McEnaney went on to show a set of slides showing ‘deliberate’ fouls.
“I don’t believe we are going to have a major issue,” he told the meeting. “There’s not a whole lot of cynical fouls but it looks ugly and we want to eradicate it. The onus is now on the player. A player is in control when making a tackle but if he commits a foul he is handing over the decision-making process to someone else.”
The Corduff clubman, now aged 52, admitted that cynical fouling was common in county games.
“Some coaches introduced systematic fouling. It happens at inter-county level. They would all take a yellow card for the team. This system now means that the decision is the player’s. Every player wants to play, that’s why they train. Now they will say to themselves ‘I’m not doing this, I don’t want to go off.”
McEnaney was reminded of the chaos in 1999 when the yellow card was first used. A game between Carlow and Westmeath ended with 20 yellow cards and six red. He dismissed any comparison.
“One of the biggest mistakes in 1999 was that the changes were introduced at championship level first. I think that’s where the major concern was. When you change a rule between league and championship, that’s where you leave yourself open to problems. We are bringing these new rules in on January 1. For the first games in the O’Byrne or McGrath Cups I want to see a senior referee in charge. I want the referee for the next game on the line. Therefore in the second game the next official knows what he is doing.”
A brief debate about the new five-second advantage rule followed.
“It is important for the referee to communicate the advantage by shouting ‘advantage on’ to the player. The player may get frustrated if no foul is given and he may lash out, so he needs to know that advantage is being played. I’ve always encouraged the ‘slow whistle’ so I’m delighted with this five-second advantage rule.”
McEnaney admitted that one aspect of the advantage rule needs clarification. That is if a player commits a technical rule (i.e. double hop) during advantage, what happens? McEnaney himself believes a free should be given against the player for the technical foul.
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