So what do ye think of the black card rule now?

[moysider]

If the best referees in the country are making a hames of the black card rule, then the ordinary refs up and down the country can be forgiven for doing the same. Tomas Se said tonight that football has become impossible to referee. Few would argue with him.

Football has always been impossible to referee 'fairly'. The black card should have helped if referees if they did what they are supposed to do. As usual referees choose to use their own interpretation of the rules and that is where the problem is. The most obvious black card today went unpunished. I read it that the ref. had already given a free and ignored the later hand trip. But with advantage law, the player that was initially fowled recovered and could have had a run on goal before being hand tripped. The ref. messed up between 2 rules.

[Jell 0 Biafra]

I think from where he was, the ref mightn't have seen it.  But if he had, I agree, it was a nailed-on black card. 

But there were a few such from both sides over the two games that were missed.

[seafoid]

Reffing infrastructure hasn't kept up with the semi professional nature of the game. Breaches have to be clearly definable and clearly sanctioned.  0 to 10 on the Cavanagh scale with 7 and up punished. Because you can't have a system where "if that was Tyrone" it would be a case

Obviously the GPA is also f**king useless on this.

The GAA specialises in vagueness . So you end up with "I thought it was x" They are getting decent money from TV so they can afford to change. The status quo is not good enough any more. It is not about faith or that's the why. It isn't even good for refs. They are asked to do the impossible.

They need a video ref like in rugby for the big matches.   And independent timekeepers like ice hockey.  Matches should not hinge on processes that do not work. Club stuff is a different issue.

[SCFC]

It's a good idea being implemented badly.
How Deegan didn't black card Small yesterday, I'll never know.

[T Toatler]

I support the rule but it is not used correctly. Small was defo black, Coppers bit harsh, Keegans I don't think was and there were defo one or two more borderline. Saying that I think the ref was fine, I won't criticise them as the job is tough.

[orangeman]

I support the rule but it is not used correctly. Small was defo black, Coppers bit harsh, Keegans I don't think was and there were defo one or two more borderline. Saying that I think the ref was fine, I won't criticise them as the job is tough.

Here's where the rule presents problems. Even with the benefit of hindsights and replays, we still cannot determine what we're definite black card offences. Maurice Devaney is one of the very best referees and he can't say either and his band of linesmen and umpires can't help him.
And reffing is a very tough job but I don't think the black card has made their job any easier at all.

[Itchy]

Maurice Devanney may be a good ref but I'm afraid Maurice Deegan is not. Agree with the basic point though, the rule is almost impossible to implement and would need an eye in the sky like in rugby to make the call. Even at that the rule would have to be expanded in terms of the detail of what a foul and what is not. For me only hanleys was a black card.

I've always preferred the idea of a sin bin myself.

[yellowcard]

Small managed to avoid a blatant black and a straight red. However the red card was the linesman on the hogan side of the fields fault. He bottled it. Just because the punch didn't land doesn't mean it wasn't a straight red. Lucky lucky boy and he knew it.

[orangeman]

Small managed to avoid a blatant black and a straight red. However the red card was the linesman on the hogan side of the fields fault. He bottled it. Just because the punch didn't land doesn't mean it wasn't a straight red. Lucky lucky boy and he knew it.

Is that what happened Parson's eye ?.

[yellowcard]

Small managed to avoid a blatant black and a straight red. However the red card was the linesman on the hogan side of the fields fault. He bottled it. Just because the punch didn't land doesn't mean it wasn't a straight red. Lucky lucky boy and he knew it.

Is that what happened Parson's eye ?.

No it was O'Connor he swung at. The fact it didn't connect is neither here nor there. After the long talking too, most presumed it was going to be a red but the officials bottled it. This was the single biggest bad decision of the evening. Cooper and Keegan also got blacks for lesser offences than Smalls previous foul. Black card rule is a complete nonsense, have always argued for a sin bin and yesterday was another reminder of how ludicrous the rule is.

[blewuporstuffed]

I'm glad most people are starting to come round to what I have said from the start, the black card is a complete nonsense.
It's just a pity it has take a couple of seasons of farce and inconsistency for the penny to drop.

[Jinxy]

It was worth trying but the common sense solution to persistent cynical fouling would be the introduction of a sin-bin.

[thewobbler]

The biggest problem with the black card is that the yellloe card still exists, thereby allowing referees to cop out of big decisions.

Remove the yellow card and our game won't be long cleaning up its act.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Is that what happened Parson's eye ?.

Does anyone know what happened that? Strange that there was nothing about it.

[trileacman]

Refs will always cop out of the black card. Why? Because of the rose-tinted hurlers on the ditch of Spillane and O'Rourke giving out to them for sending lads off for black card offences like McCarthy last week or O'Se v Tyrone last year. They're fucked if they do and fucked if they don't and so they will just do nothing and hope no-one notices.

That's why the black card rule won't work. Either implement it as it falls under the rules or don't. It's typical Irish mentality marked in your approach to any legislation. Pub closing times, tax law, drink driving limits, water bills, black cards are all just guidelines not strict rules and are open to your own half-arsed interpretation.

This country would drive you up the walls at times.