Hooters, not everybody is a fan.
And yet it is hard to deny the heightened punch of last-gasp drama the clock-hooter system has added to several games over the course of this year’s league.
Still, the chaotic scenes at the end of Sunday’s Division Two derby between Westmeath and Meath in Mullingar should not be ignored by Croke Park officials. It’s a timely alarm bell.
Admittedly, it was a perfect storm and the odds on a series of similar events transpiring again would be long, nonetheless they coalesced at Cusack Park on Sunday in what was only the fifth round of games under the new rules.
And while such a hullabaloo at the end of a Division Two league game might not be enough to get Joe Duffy on the case, if such a controversial score materialised in a knockout championship game this summer, they’d need a warehouse full of extra phone lines in Montrose to handle the fallout.
In short, Westmeath led by one point with two minutes remaining. Meath equalised in the 69th minute. Then, with the digital clock at the far end of the ground showing 10 seconds remaining, Meath’s Keith Curtis got possession out near the terrace sideline and launched a high ball in on top of the Westmeath goal.
Conor Duke caught the ball. Landed. Turned. Took two steps ... and then things got complicated. It appeared that the hooter sounded milliseconds before he kicked the ball.
For a score to count in those circumstances, the current rule states the ball must have left the player’s foot before the hooter sounds.
Problem was, Cusack Park was already bouncing. Meath fans instantly started to pour down from the stand and terraces to celebrate a dramatic victory. Members of the Westmeath management team were already a few metres ahead of them though, racing towards referee Barry Judge to tell the Sligo official the score shouldn’t stand.
The umpires looked unsure. They weren’t the only ones. The entire ground was enveloped in a concoction of elation, anger, confusion – the tale of a Duke, a Judge and Westmeath fans declaring a miscarriage of justice.
Judge exited the pitch surrounded by stewards in bright orange bibs. And while Westmeath were clearly annoyed and frustrated as they argued their case in the concourse behind the main stand afterwards, thankfully matters never totally boiled over. But they could have.
After all, should Westmeath get relegated from Division Two, then there is every chance they will end up playing in the Tailteann Cup this year – as they wouldn’t then be eligible for the Sam Maguire competition unless they progressed to the Leinster final.
The consequences of not earning a draw last Sunday could yet prove season-defining.
So, how could the controversy have been avoided?
There appears to be a very obvious solution here – the game only ends when the ball goes dead after the hooter sounds. Yes, similar to what happens in rugby.
There are nuances to all rules but this could be stripped down and simplified – after the hooter sounds the game is over when the ball crosses any of the four perimeter lines on the pitch. That’s it.
It doesn’t matter if the ball goes out for a wide or a sideline or a 45 – the game is over. And to prevent the team leading the match from ending it by dragging down opposition players, the concession of frees or penalties would not constitute full-time. The game only ends when the ball leaves the field of play – if that means one team booting it out over the sideline after the hooter sounds, so be it.
There are, of course, other considerations at play on this topic. The location of the scoreboard clock is not consistent in every ground, some hooters are louder than others, and several counties have encountered technical issues operating a stop-clock system.
For some, this clock-hooter business is just not worth the hassle. For others, it has added to the excitement of games and provided certainty in terms of how much time remains.
Sunday wasn’t Dermot McCabe’s first clock-hooter drama either. In 2001 the Cavan man travelled to Australia as part of Brian McEniff’s Ireland International Rules squad.
McCabe missed the first test in Melbourne because of injury but at the end of that game when the hooter sounded and with the ball going over the sideline, the Ireland players started to celebrate a victory.
However, the rules allowed for the kick to proceed and Australia subsequently scored a quickly taken behind into an unguarded Irish goal, cutting the deficit to six points for the second test.
Ireland were enraged and subsequently assistant manager Paddy Clarke received a five-game ban for a confrontation with referee Brett Allen.
Culturally, clock-hooters remain a sea change for GAA supporters.
Yet it has largely worked in the women’s game, and it has been proposed many times in the past for the GAA. Indeed, such a system was trialled during the college competitions in 2014, after which a report commissioned on the experiment stated:
“We believe the clock-hooter system will be an addition to the presentation of our intercounty championship games. However, we also believe that our playing rules at present do not necessarily provide for what it was hoped the clock-hooter system would achieve.”
The clock-hooter was placed back in cold storage. The Football Rules Committee’s efforts to reheat it are commendable but Sunday’s climax in Mullingar exposed some flaws.
There appears to be a practical solution, though.
