Yellow-card offence modified

THE EXPERIMENTAL yellow-card offences have been slightly modified ahead of next month’s congress in an effort to increase the chances of them being voted into the rule book.

One of the yellow-card offences, “to wrestle with an opponent, on the ground, and away from play”, is no longer deemed a highly disruptive foul, and instead becomes a black book offence. Congress will also have the option of doing away with any carryover of yellow cards, where a second offence currently results is a two-week ban.

As indicated last month, congress, set for April 18th, will get to choose whether to incorporate some or all of the new yellow-card offences into the rule book – or do away with them completely. They will therefore be presented as separate congress motions, all the details of which will be presented in Croke Park later today.

Speaking yesterday, the disciplinary playing rules taskforce chairman Liam O’Neill outlined the reasons for the modifications.

“Part of our original rationale for these rules was to make players responsible for their own actions,” he said, “that the person who fouled would pay the consequences of it.

“It was pointed out to us, over the course of our meetings with managers and county chairmen, that there was the danger of a good player, say one of the better forwards, being lured into a situation where he could be put off. Like say the defender who wanted him off might get involved in some activity, where the two of them would go. And that might be seen as good value. In other words, the wrestling offence was open to some bad intent.

“We were more that happy to look at it again. In some ways, it was running contrary to our own set of guidelines, based on the idea that players be responsible for their own actions. And there was no point in consulting with people if you don’t give them some input. But that was the only one that seemed to grate with anyone that expressed an opinion.

“It certainly doesn’t take from what we’re tying to do. But we didn’t need to modify any of the other ones. And it was the four big fouls that we were after. The pull down, the trip, the body collide, and the arm around the neck. They still involve a conscious decision by the player, so our package is still strong, and still does enough to improve the games.”

One yellow-card offence has already been modified, and rather than just the hurl, now reads “to use the hurley or hand in a careless manner”.

However, O’Neill admitted that the motions covering each offence won’t be addressed unless the principal motion “of a player being sent off for a yellow-card offence, and being replaced” is agreed.

“Obviously, if they don’t accept the principal then it’s over very quickly. And it is a two-thirds majority, and that’s a very difficult target for any motion. We saw that with Rule 21 and Rule 42.

“It makes change very difficult. But we’re hopeful. The last two rounds of the league could make or break it, because it’s very hard to hold people to a position.”

O’Neill had little sympathy for the small but continuous chorus from managers who feel the rules simply won’t work: “Well these rules are designed to take out the cynical fouls, and to a fair extent players have already modified their behaviour. The number of cards being shown for body colliding has reduced dramatically. And something else we’ve noticed is that it’s only certain players that are getting cards.

“We’re not out to expose anybody, but if most others can get through it then why can’t the rest? Because, to a fair extent, it’s the players who have been doing these fouls over the past couple of years that are being caught.”