Refs chief: Cynical fouls should earn a 20m free-in

Referees chief Willie Barrett is in favour of cynical play being punished by a 20-metre free. The Tipperary native stopped short of calling for a black card, but agrees with Irish Examiner columnist Brian Gavin that a close-range free should be awarded as well on top of a yellow card being issued to the offending player.

Gavin believes the free against three defenders on the goal-line would deter teams from making professional fouls. What those fouls are exactly will have to be determined, but they could be similar to the black card infringements in Gaelic football such as drag downs, trips and deliberate body checks.

Barrett says action needs to be taken in the wake of incidents in games such as the Leinster SHC Round 4 game between Galway and Kilkenny — where Galway defenders made a series of cynical fouls as they protected a lead — and Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final, when Kilkenny defenders committed similar offences as they held an advantage over Cork.

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“There has been a trend this summer and it’s something I feel we definitely need to look at and the (playing) rules committee need to look at in terms of tackling cynicism about hurling,” said Barrett. “I have no question about that. “Personally, I certainly wouldn’t be for a black card but maybe in terms of punishing cynical fouls there could be a free puck in an advantageous position in terms of scoring.

“I imagine it’s going to be looked at after the Championship. The rules committee have foul play across both codes next on their agenda and I expect something will be brought to Congress in February. There’ll be looking at the games where these incidents have happened.

We have certainly looked at situations where yellow cards have correctly been issued, but that’s as far as the rule goes at the moment. That’s as much as we can apply at the moment.

What would also have to be decided is where on the field does a cynical foul warrant a 20m free and how many defenders can be permitted on the goal-line. On the matter of the former, Barrett thinks the infringement would have to be in the opposing half.

“Looking at it, I think it would have to be within the scoring space in an opponent’s half to give the advantage. Otherwise, it’s not a real advantage. It’s something to be looked at in the light of what has happened in games and it requires quite a bit of discussion to get it right.”

Barrett has been satisfied with the officiating in Gaelic football this year, especially the administration of cards.

“Happy enough — things are progressing well. Things have gone well refereeing-wise. We’re giving the yellow cards for the high challenges and the black card for the deliberate pull-down and we had a seminar recently and we had a very high success rate in terms of our decision-making to date.”