Striving for tackling consistency

The landscape of hurling has changed over the past decade and an emphasis on “possession” has become symbolic of most top teams’ game-plans, whereby teams will run with the ball more often.

This has brought with it challenges to the refereeing of the game with this style of play increasing the time players have on the ball to be tackled, and therefore increasing the number of tackles being made in games.

With frees scoreable within two-thirds of the field in the hurling, it brings with it added pressure to get the decision right. The inconsistency in refereeing at the moment is largely down to how a referee interprets a fair and an illegal tackle made on a player in possession of the sliotar.