Managers risk sideline bans over fake news and dummy teams in new directive

Leading inter-county football managers run the risk of losing sideline privileges for several games should they continue the habit of keeping their actual starting teams for Allianz League fixtures under wraps until the 11th hour.

Monaghan’s Malachy O’Rourke is notorious for the practice, averaging over four changes per each of the county’s seven league games last season, as is Dublin boss Jim Gavin, while Declan Bonner made a multitude of late alterations to his teams last spring. Between them, the trio made 66 last-minute switches across the seven rounds of their 2018 campaigns.