Cautious welcome for yellow-card rule as litmus test looms

GAELIC GAMES NATIONAL LEAGUE:LIKE ANY other year the start of the National Football League brings fresh ambitions and fresh challenges, and for 2009 this includes the ongoing adjustment to the GAA's new yellow-card rule. Not yet set in stone, the opening rounds of the league will ultimately determine whether or not the new rule has a long-term future, although there was some early support from the four managers in attendance at yesterday's league launch in Dublin.

Damien Cassidy, who late last year succeeded Paddy Crozier as Derry manager, has not only the task of defending the league title, but also of improving Derry’s unquestionable potential on the championship stage. Cassidy sees the new yellow-card rule – which sees players sent to the line for one of the six categorised offences, but then replaced from the substitutes – as still under a sort of continuous assessment, and that the full impact of the rule has yet to be realised.

“The consistency of how the rule is applied is critical,” he said. “But I don’t think we’ll see the full impact of these rules until March, when games start coming back to back. If players finds themselves suspended for two games, for two yellow cards, then that will clearly impact on the strength of the panel. There has to be a period of suspension, clearly, but I just wonder will this impact more on players around the middle of the field, given they naturally see more of the action.”

Former Galway footballer Kevin Walsh, who is also new to management with former county rivals Sligo, was a little more reassured about the benefits of the rule, and that referees have already found the correct medium of when and where to apply the new yellow card.

“I found in our first game in the FBD League it was right down to the letter of the law, but in the other two games a lot more common sense prevailed,” he said. “I would be a little concerned that the taller player might be more susceptible to the yellow cards, when it comes to catching a player around the head, whereas the smaller could slip away more easily, but I do think in the long run it can only be good for the GAA.”

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was typically astute about the role the new rule could and should play: “I’ve always maintained that the consistency of application of rules is all that’s required. We’ve had three games under the new rules and I don’t see any problem with them at all. It’s goes back to the consistency of interpretation, and if we’re working towards that then we’re in a good place.”

New Dublin manager Pat Gilroy was equally optimistic they had a future: “I think the rules have been well worth implementing,” he said. We’ve had a referee in at our training matches, and it does help eliminate all the lazy fouls. The game seems to flow a lot better as a result of that.”

The GAA yesterday released a final graph of statistics regarding the yellow-card rule from the opening four weekend’s of the year, and this suggests a pattern of adaptation. In football, the average number of yellow cards decreased with every passing weekend, starting with an average of 3.5 yellow cards per game, and reducing to 2.33, then 1.65, and then last weekend to 1.63.

In hurling, the pattern is somewhat similar, with last weekend again having the lowest average of yellow cards per game, 1.22, which in fact equalled that of three weekends ago, but well down on the opening weekend, which had an average of 2.75 yellow cards per game. The GAA will tomorrow outline the final guidelines for application of rules during the upcoming leagues, following meetings with manager representatives in recent weeks.

The GAA yesterday conveyed their deepest sympathies to GAA president Nickey Brennan and his family on the loss of his mother, Peggy Brennan. Mrs Brennan died suddenly at her home in Suttonsrath, Jenkinstown, Kilkenny, on Sunday evening.