Fear and loathing of yellow

National Hurling League Countdown: There was only one possible topic of conversation at yesterday's launch of the Allianz National Hurling League. The controversial two (soft) strikes and you're out rule felt the wrath of the three leading hurling managers in the country, each of them making it clear that someone, somewhere was making a terrible mistake.

Neither Galway manager Conor Hayes nor new Cork manager John Allen have yet had full exposure to the experimental rules, and they'd both prefer to keep it that way. And Kilkenny manager Brian Cody suggested that Christy Ring would be turning in his grave if he knew what was being done to hurling.

For Hayes, whose Galway team begins the defence of their league title against Dublin on Sunday, the main problem with players being sent off for yellow card was the enduring lack of knowledge over what exactly they can still get away with.

"This whole thing was just handed to us as a fait accompli," started Hayes. "It's difficult to predict how it's going to pan out, but clearly a lot will depend on the interpretation of referees. We were briefed on Monday about the new rules and one of the questions I asked was if every free would be a ticking offence, except for say over-carrying. And it looks as if it is. So you could end up using your six subs very quickly.

"But it's tampering with something that's not broken. I feel we're compared with football, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the hurling rules. Galway had very competitive league and two championship games last year, and I didn't hear any call for these changes. But I'm not going to be telling my players to play the game any differently."

As All-Ireland champions, Cork are particularly well positioned to comment on the state of hurling. Allen added to the sense of frustration by admitting he didn't quite know what to expect in the league.

"I feel that some referees aren't really sure how far they have to go with the ticking and then the yellow carding," he said. "This is my first year as manager, but I was surprised to hear that no other managers were consulted at the end of last year about any changes in the rules, or if there was anything amiss with hurling over the past year.

"Since my involvement anyway the amount of fouls has been minimal, and I would hate it if the physicality was taken out of hurling. If someone is hit off the ball with a hurl or even in play then of course they should be sent off, but if we go down the road where players can't physically challenge for the ball then we're not going to see the game we all grew up with. So I just hope that common sense will prevail, and that we won't take that out of the game."

Now in his seventh year as Kilkenny manager, Cody came out with a broadside against the yellow card rule after Kilkenny's opening match in the Walsh Cup. Two games later - and with the trophy now won - his mindset has only been strengthened.

"I totally resent the way the thing was handled," said Cody. "I'm not going to comment on the number of frees in football, but I certainly don't think there were too many frees in hurling. I remember an All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary two years ago when we only got one free in the second half.

"Right now the players and spectators are confused. One of them (a referee) came in to talk to us before a Walsh Cup game and he couldn't answer all our questions. And I wouldn't blame him for that. But the genuine use of the body was something we were all brought up on, but this is taking all physical contact out of the game. And as I've said before I genuinely believe that will kill the game.

"I've met nobody at all yet who thinks this is a good idea. So I'm just mystified by it. What the likes of Christy Ring would make of the game of hurling we're trying to implement I just don't know."

While all three managers agreed that winning the league would be nice, the finding of new players - while building form towards the championship - was perhaps the overriding ambition.

There were also concerns from two of the managers on the reducing of panels down to 24.

"I think it should be changed back," said Cody. "But it's the seesaw thing that annoys me. There's no point in chopping and changing. I feel that if you took a consensus of county managers most of them would look for 30. But we'll still train with 30 anyway."

Hayes added: "We've so many players involved with Fitzgibbon at the moment that you have to be working off a panel of 30. And you could easily lose players by telling on them Sunday morning that they're not travelling."