Facts back up Gooch’s belief that black card has led to higher scores

You would imagine it would suit him right down to the ground but Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper has one major reservation about the implementation of the black card.

“Just from watching games on TV, the scoring averages would be up, I would say, and it would have a big impact on it,” he says.

“Any of the National League games I was watching, you’d nearly need 20 points or more to win, whereas before you would have won matches 13-12 or something like that.

“From the games I’ve seen, it’s been used sensibly. You’ll always have one or two cases that will be debatable. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes in the championship. I just hope we don’t have a scenario where teams feel black cards have cost them matches. It was brought in to cut out cynical play and it helps create a better game to watch and a better game to play in.”

An Irish Examiner study backs up Cooper’s thoughts on the black card contributing to higher scores: the numbers of goals and points registered in the round stages of the top three Allianz Football League divisions jumped impressively this year. However, but for Division 1, where the total goals scored increased by almost 45% compared to 2013 and the accumulated points were up by 19%, this season’s figures don’t read as handsomely.

Goals and points are up in divisions 2 and 3 in 2014 on the last four campaigns, but the improved scoring rates are nowhere near as strong as they are in Division 1.

This spring’s Division 2 had just as many goals last year but showed 25 more points scored while there was just one more goal in Division 3 this season compared to 2013, although there was a step up of 66 points.