FRC proposals...black cards, marks etc

[Syferus]

Moaners like Eugene McGee would drive people away from the GAA.

Given he has as much real power in the GAA as anyone right now he's no moaner. Very hard to disagree with his sentiment and hopefully his committee's recommendations are passed so we can ease the burden on players.

[Throw ball]

Surely moving minor to under 19 would be better than under 17. Moving it back would mean a year may never get the chance to play at that level. Also in the 6 county part of Ulster AS level exams are taken at 17. Then again those 6 don't count anyway!

[Syferus]

Surely moving minor to under 19 would be better than under 17. Moving it back would mean a year may never get the chance to play at that level. Also in the 6 county part of Ulster AS level exams are taken at 17. Then again those 6 don't count anyway!

The plan is to run two competitions in one year so no one would miss out. And come off the Ulster shite - you won't ever make everyone happy.

[BennyHarp]

Surely moving minor to under 19 would be better than under 17. Moving it back would mean a year may never get the chance to play at that level. Also in the 6 county part of Ulster AS level exams are taken at 17. Then again those 6 don't count anyway!

The plan is to run two competitions in one year so no one would miss out. And come off the Ulster shite - you won't ever make everyone happy.

Will the older group be just made up of 18 year olds from the cohort just out of minor then and is the plan to have 2 minor finals on All Ireland final day? Good chance for a county to pick up a unique 3 all irelands in one day then so? 

[Syferus]

Surely moving minor to under 19 would be better than under 17. Moving it back would mean a year may never get the chance to play at that level. Also in the 6 county part of Ulster AS level exams are taken at 17. Then again those 6 don't count anyway!

The plan is to run two competitions in one year so no one would miss out. And come off the Ulster shite - you won't ever make everyone happy.

Will the older group be just made up of 18 year olds from the cohort just out of minor then and is the plan to have 2 minor finals on All Ireland final day? Good chance for a county to pick up a unique 3 all irelands in one day then so? 

They were bandying about the idea of running one earlier in the year and one later in the year. Hard to know how little or how much support the idea overall has.

It's not really at minor where players are under the most in test pressure so the focus probably should be more about moving U21-centric competitions like the Sigerson around first and see the effects of the (hopefully) new schedule first before making drastic changes to the structure.

[orangeman]

Good news :


Black card is working, according to GAA president Liam O'Neill

Referees have not been told to be cautious with the black card according to GAA president Liam O'Neill.

The head of the GAA told RTÉ Sport that he believes the black card is already working and predicted even fewer cards as the season progresses.

He said: "I think it has been a success. The reason not so many have been shown is people now know the offences clearly.

"They know if you pull someone down deliberately, if you deliberately trip someone or body-check someone, you are going to get a black card.

"So people are not doing those fouls and the referees are not having to show the cards because people know in advance. No player wants to leave the field of play.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field. The message will get through and you will see as the season goes on there will be fewer and fewer.

"There is certainly no diktat from me and there is nobody in Croke Park would issue such a diktat. It is down to the referees.

"They are well-briefed on the rules. They are well-briefed on the fact you show the black card for a deliberate foul.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field"

"The word 'deliberate' is very, very important in this. There can be accidental trips; nobody would like to see a player dismissed from the field, even though he is substituted, for an accidental trip. It must be deliberate.

"It must be deliberate if you pull down someone, it must be deliberate you body-check someone, not that the person runs into you. The player has to get the benefit of the doubt unless it is deliberate.

"I am quite confident that the referees have been really well briefed. If the foul committed and it is deliberate, I have no doubt the referees will show the black card."

[BennyHarp]

Good news :


Black card is working, according to GAA president Liam O'Neill

Referees have not been told to be cautious with the black card according to GAA president Liam O'Neill.

The head of the GAA told RTÉ Sport that he believes the black card is already working and predicted even fewer cards as the season progresses.

He said: "I think it has been a success. The reason not so many have been shown is people now know the offences clearly.

"They know if you pull someone down deliberately, if you deliberately trip someone or body-check someone, you are going to get a black card.

"So people are not doing those fouls and the referees are not having to show the cards because people know in advance. No player wants to leave the field of play.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field. The message will get through and you will see as the season goes on there will be fewer and fewer.

"There is certainly no diktat from me and there is nobody in Croke Park would issue such a diktat. It is down to the referees.

"They are well-briefed on the rules. They are well-briefed on the fact you show the black card for a deliberate foul.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field"

"The word 'deliberate' is very, very important in this. There can be accidental trips; nobody would like to see a player dismissed from the field, even though he is substituted, for an accidental trip. It must be deliberate.

"It must be deliberate if you pull down someone, it must be deliberate you body-check someone, not that the person runs into you. The player has to get the benefit of the doubt unless it is deliberate.

"I am quite confident that the referees have been really well briefed. If the foul committed and it is deliberate, I have no doubt the referees will show the black card."

Thank God for that - i was worried for a while there.

[Milltown Row2]

Good news :


Black card is working, according to GAA president Liam O'Neill

Referees have not been told to be cautious with the black card according to GAA president Liam O'Neill.

The head of the GAA told RTÉ Sport that he believes the black card is already working and predicted even fewer cards as the season progresses.

He said: "I think it has been a success. The reason not so many have been shown is people now know the offences clearly.

"They know if you pull someone down deliberately, if you deliberately trip someone or body-check someone, you are going to get a black card.

"So people are not doing those fouls and the referees are not having to show the cards because people know in advance. No player wants to leave the field of play.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field. The message will get through and you will see as the season goes on there will be fewer and fewer.

"There is certainly no diktat from me and there is nobody in Croke Park would issue such a diktat. It is down to the referees.

"They are well-briefed on the rules. They are well-briefed on the fact you show the black card for a deliberate foul.

"Players exist to play and they don't like leaving the field"

"The word 'deliberate' is very, very important in this. There can be accidental trips; nobody would like to see a player dismissed from the field, even though he is substituted, for an accidental trip. It must be deliberate.

"It must be deliberate if you pull down someone, it must be deliberate you body-check someone, not that the person runs into you. The player has to get the benefit of the doubt unless it is deliberate.

"I am quite confident that the referees have been really well briefed. If the foul committed and it is deliberate, I have no doubt the referees will show the black card."

Thank God for that - i was worried for a while there.

Was talking to a referee who was at a match recently, he said that the referee did really well and if interpreting the rules there would have been a couple at least of black cards (though none given during the game). Going to be strange in the first match, can't wait to get it out of the way and see how the club players deal with it.

As said by some here, you will get the odd gobshite who'll go card crazy, but hopefully everyone else will apply them well

[BennyHarp]

After tonight's result in the McKenna cup I've changed my mind. The new rules are deadly altogether. 

[ONeill]

After tonight's result in the McKenna cup I've changed my mind. The new rules are deadly altogether. 

Yer man in Omagh was a bit light on the cards tonight.

[Milltown Row2]

How is the other rule going, the Advantage rule? Haven't heard a word said about it in fairness, which can only mean it's working well

[Rossfan]

As said by some here, you will get the odd gobshite who'll go card crazy

I'd be worried about 1 particular individual in our County......

[muppet]

Surely moving minor to under 19 would be better than under 17. Moving it back would mean a year may never get the chance to play at that level. Also in the 6 county part of Ulster AS level exams are taken at 17. Then again those 6 don't count anyway!

Those six are the reason Hogan Cup is U18.5 and not the same as minor. IIRC they moved the date in the mid 1980s to align with the McRory Cup.

[johnneycool]

fúck ye, us hurlers don't need any cards at all (according to Eddie Keher)

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/keher-lays-his-cards-on-the-table-255745.html

After canvassing opinion, Eddie Keher has delivered a document to the GAA calling for the end of yellow and red cards in hurling
Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin receives a second yellow card and then a red from referee Barry Kelly in last year's All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Cork. Picture: Inpho
Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin receives a second yellow card and then a red from referee Barry Kelly in last year's All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Cork. Picture: Inpho
By John Fogarty
What Eddie Keher wants to make clear is his document isn't a Kilkenny one. He wouldn't have put fingertip to keyboard were it not for first canvassing opinions of hurling people from other counties.

As most things do, it started with a conversation. Then another followed by another before someone convinced him that his views represented many within the game and he should do something about it. Keher is a long-time critic of how hurling is officiated, but the border-line sendings off of Henry Shefflin, Pa Horgan and Ryan O'Dwyer last year agitated him greatly.

Even if Kilkenny's three-in-a-row attempt stalled before the All-Ireland quarter-finals, he was absorbed by a thrilling Championship.

But the six-time All-Ireland winner couldn't help thinking the high entertainment value of the competition was provided in spite of a flawed disciplinary system.

"I should mention that I was never in favour of cards in the first place," he writes in the document, "and I contend that the 2013 season in particular has confirmed that they are not compatible with Gaelic games.

"This has been confirmed at top level by virtue of the fact that many of the 'sendings off' from yellow/red cards were later rescinded by the committee in charge.

"Unfortunately, the teams suffering from those injustices have been wrongly penalised, in that the result of the games cannot be reversed, or a replay called for. This was, of course, fully accepted by the teams involved in true sporting fashion."

Keher makes the point yellow and red cards were replicated from soccer, introduced to that sport for the 1970 World Cup to address the language barrier. "Totally at variance with the ethos, physicality and manliness of the game of hurling," he writes.

It is because of the cards, first introduced to the GAA in 1999, that he feels cynicism has crept into hurling.

"Players are now encouraged to feign injury, or duck in under the opposing player's hurley in order to have him issued with a card. This is a most unwelcome trend in our traditional and otherwise sporting games.

"Hurling was never a cynical game, but it is now starting to become one due to the unjust penalties imposed for fouls by players full of honest endeavour. With the introduction of all these restrictions and penalties, and now the proposed introduction of 'black cards' for hurlers, the players are appearing to be treated and regarded as the 'bad guys' of our games."

It's Keher's assessment players, or defenders, are confused about how to tackle without committing a foul and incurring a yellow card.

"What should a defender do when a forward is charging towards the goal with the ball? There have been several instances where the defender stood in front of him with his arms outstretched to be penalised when the forward ran into him and fell? Fair, manly tackles should always remain part of our game."

Keher's method of replacing the yellow and red card is a return to the system that existed before 1999.

A technical foul is penalised by the awarding of a free only. "99% of frees taken in hurling up to almost 100 yards (120 yards in the case of Anthony Nash!) are converted by scoring a point," he states. A player found to have committed an act of dangerous play, resulting in minor injury, would be warned, have his name taken as well as a free being called against him. A repeat offence and he would be sent off. A player who deliberately strikes an opponent with the intent to injure would be dismissed.

According to Keher, the withdrawal of cards would also reduce the role of referees to "facilitators" of matches and the potential for them to be involved in controversies.

Last month, he was at Kilkenny's challenge game against Wexford in aid of Tomás Waters. The game wasn't overly intense, but he was struck by how well former inter-county referee Dickie Murphy handled it.

"There was only one dangerous tackle from which a yellow card was shown. The card was shown quickly and just to the player involved, and not triumphantly for all the world to see, as we are now witnessing from referees. Dickie's performance was a breath of fresh air."

As an addendum, Keher supports the motion of 20-metre frees and penalties being struck on or before the 20m line. An expert free-taker himself, his reasoning is down to safety concerns. "With the present composition of the ball and the use of synthetic hurleys, a serious injury will result soon from a defender being struck with the ball from 13 to 15m."

He also believes the use of substitutes is abused. "I recommend no subs be allowed within 10 minutes of the end of a game. In the case of serious injury during that period, a sub could be allowed at the discretion of the referee."

Before Christmas, Keher delivered his document to GAA president Liam O'Neill who has asked him to speak to a couple of committees.

A move away from cards, he knows, would cut ties with football, already on another plateau with black cards. But few know better than him how unique hurling is. He just wants it treated as such.

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

[Milltown Row2]

You tell them Eddie, not looking forward to the football this year, will be some gurning from clubs/supporters/managers and players!!

Think the football referess should earn more expenses for all the grief they will get