Yellow card and you're off - and replaced

Gaelic Games Sin bin rule: As expected, the GAA have abandoned the experimental sin bin rule as used in the recent provincial competitions and replaced it with a more straightforward penalty whereby a yellow-carded player is sent to the line for the remainder of the game.

Pending final approval by Central Council, the new disciplinary measure will be tested during the coming National Football and Hurling Leagues.

But there are other significant rule alterations to make the new regulation viable. The dismissed player can now be replaced by a substitute, thus ensuring the game remains 15-a-side - unless a player is shown a straight red card for a more serious offence.

There is also a change in the way the referee indicates that a player has received a warning - better known as a tick - while the number of substitutes permitted during a game has been increased from five to six.

Details of the new experiment were outlined in Hong Kong yesterday by GAA president Seán Kelly during the final day of the All Star football tour.

Other experimental rules introduced by the football task force - such as picking the ball off the ground and the use of the tee in kick-outs - will not be revised, but they will require final approval when Central Council meet next Friday.

Kelly admitted that difficulties in implementing the sin bin in its original form had forced the task force into the rethink. But he was still confident the new rule could address the enduring problem of consistent fouling.

"I think we have to credit the task force for looking closely again at this particular proposal," said Kelly. "They realised that the main problem was the way it was being implemented, rather than the proposal itself. There was the realisation that, logistically, it was very difficult for the linesmen and the fourth official to keep track of those who were coming off for the sin bin, and those who were due to come back on.

"Secondly, they realised that it would be impossible to operate that system at club and schools level. Obviously we always aspire towards having the one system for the entire association.

"But the task force had always had the permission from Central Council to review any of the experiments at the end of January. This was the alteration they came up with, and that will now be put forward for the duration of the league in both football and hurling.

"All the other experimental rules in football and in the hurling will remain as they were laid out before Christmas."

There was, added Kelly, plenty of reason to believe the new rule could work. While logistically it would be easier to implement, there should also be an improved level of understanding for both player and spectator.

"The main change we decided on was altering the penalty for the yellow card," he explained, "but also the mechanism by which it is indicated to the public.

"So if a player commits a deliberate foul he will first of all get a ticking. And the referee will indicate that to him, and to the spectators, by raising his book above his head. That will make it clear that the player has been ticked, and everyone will know where he stands.

"If the player repeats a cautionable offence he will receive a yellow, and will be sent to the line for the remainder of the match. But he can be replaced by a substitute. And in order to cater for that scenario we are also raising the permitted number of substitutes from five to six."

Kelly also played down the suggestion that he encouraged the task force to persist with some form of the sin bin rather than abandon it altogether, which could be perceived in some quarters as the GAA backing down on their fight against indiscipline.

"Well no, because when I drew up this task force I wanted some of the most experienced people I could get. And there is a wonderful cross section of managers and players, so I was always content to let them work off their own accord. I was never going to force my views upon them.

"And I think they have come up with a viable solution to the essential problem, namely that the persistent fouler in the game wasn't being dealt with harshly enough or often enough. We had reached the situation where some players were being yellow-carded in nearly every match, but then wouldn't really be penalised at all.

"Of course it's still only an experiment, and from that point of view it's still very much worth while. We'll see now what everyone thinks of this, and then we'll all get to vote on it at Congress. And if it doesn't get the two-thirds majority then that's it with this experiment. But at least we gave it a go. That was always the aim of the task force."

The general guideline for referees is that no yellow card should be issued for a foul that is seen as accidental.

"Hopefully we can make this work," added Kelly, "but if this thing is going to last it will require the two-thirds majority, and that's pretty high for any change of rule. But it's a novel and a genuine effort to address the most obvious weakness in our game, which is the persistent fouler."

The new experimental rule, incidentally, is similar to that used in the International Rules series with Australia, where a yellow card results in a player being sent to the sideline for the remainder of the game, but also being replaced by a substitute.