Black cards and hand-pass to be discussed by rules committee
Up to now, there has been little appetite among the members to make substantial changes to the black card. Following the advice of the black card review group, they last year proposed the wording of one of the deliberate body collide fouls be changed. It was passed at Congress in February.
However, in the wake of significant outcry questioning the workability of the GAA’s answer to curbing cynical play, they may be compelled to act.
The inconsistency in the application of the black card and the difficulties with interpretation were debated at last week’s national referees meeting while several pundits have called for changes to be made.Yesterday, Football Review Committee chairman Eugene McGee made a staunch defence of the black card he advocated in 2013 and he has support among the playing rules committee.
Their report earlier this year read: “While there are many detractors of the black card the irrefutable statistical evidence presented to the committee in 2015 was that, since the introduction of the black card and the advantage rule, there had been a 20% decrease in the number of fouls in Gaelic football while the number of shots had increased – on average six extra shots and eight less fouls per match.”
The Jarlath Burns-chaired committee has not ruled out making a black card offence in the closing stages of games a red card offence.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests players are less reticent about receiving a black card in the final minutes due to the availability of subs and the need for ‘fresh legs’. The committee believes this must be closely monitored. Furthermore, if evidence suggests a clear trend in relation to this, the committee must recommend a deterrent in order to ensure players take responsibility for their own behaviour.”
The hand-pass remains a subject of interest for the committee. In this year’s All-Ireland final replay, there were 392 hand-passes (Dublin 242, Mayo 150) in contrast to 118 kick-passes (both 59). Admittedly, transferring the ball by hand was more conducive in the poor conditions but the figure is consistent with the prevalence of the hand-pass in recent years. Their report read: “The committee has identified a number of areas it intends to track and analyse during 2016. The first item of interest is the hand-pass. The statistics prove there has been an increase in the average number of hand-passes per match from 251 in 2011 to 319 in 2015.
“While this is a significant increase, there has not been an inverse decrease in the number of foot-passes. However, the committee will seek to identify opportunities to experiment with limiting the number of consecutive hand-passes in Gaelic football in order to analyse whether this positively impacts upon the game and promotes the skills of catching and kicking.”
Having convinced the Central Competitions Control Committee and the national referees development committee to allow 20 to 30 seconds per sub to be added on at the end of the relevant half, the group are also analysing if more time should be allocated for time lost when a free or penalty has been given.
“On the basis of the principle the playing rules should be easy to read, interpret and apply on a consistent basis, the committee intends to track and analyse the length/ frequency of delays arising when a free kick or penalty is awarded to a team.
“Members have expressed concerns delays arising from same are leading to inconsistencies in relation to the playing time. Evidence regarding the length/ frequency of delays will be generated over the course of 2016.”
The playing rules committee comprises Burns, Cork secretary Frank Murphy, former Meath manager Seán Boylan, GAA director of games Pat Daly, ex-Kerry star Darragh Ó Sé, current Limerick hurler and GPA chairman Seamus Hickey, Connacht games manager John Tobin and Antrim development officer Jim Murray.
The GAA’s games development operations coordinator Caoimhe Ní Neill is the group’s secretary.
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