Players would be sent off for yellow cards

GAELIC GAMES HDC AND DISCIPLINE PROPOSALSTHE HURLING championship is not the only thing in line for a major shake-up at next month's special congress as the GAA yesterday announced a further set of motions related to the disciplinary aspects of playing rules and the under-21 championship.

If, as the GAA suggest, the appetite for further disciplinary overhaul is now unmistakable then the changes in playing rules would mean the end of the yellow card in Gaelic games, as least as we know it. Rather than representing a last caution before a sending-off, a yellow card would mean the player is now forced to leave the field, with a replacement allowed to be brought on from the list of substitutes. In other words, the offending team wouldn't be a man down, but they would be without a first-choice player.

This is one of the several motions going before the special congress set for Croke Park on Saturday, October 4th. In Croke Park yesterday, GAA president Nickey Brennan and director general Paraic Duffy outlined the full implications of these motions, relating firstly to the Hurling Development Committee (HDC), and then also those of the Disciplinary Task Force, and the latest motions from the Player Burnout Task Force.

The HDC propose a restructuring of the senior hurling championship only, on a three-year experimental basis, effective from next summer. Galway and Antrim will enter the Leinster championship and a new three-phase qualifier competition is introduced, while the championship as a whole becomes a four-tier structure - namely the Liam McCarthy, the Christy Ring, the Nickey Rackard, and the new Lory Meagher Cup competitions.

The proposals from the Disciplinary Task Force may prove a little more contentious, particularly those related to the revised meaning of a yellow card. Six fouls (see panel below) have been classified as "highly disruptive", and will result in a straight yellow card - which in turn means the player must leave the field of play, with a replacement allowed from within the team's substitutes.

Teams will be allowed to make six substitutions - thus reducing the chance that the yellow cards will result in a reduction of the game from 15-a-side. However, red-card infractions will continue as they are, while other aggressive and technical fouls have been further defined so that three such fouls would also result in a yellow card and the exit of a player.

According to Brennan, the consensus for change is there. "We have carried out an exceptionally wide range of consultation on this," he said, "and have been very impressed by the level of support we would appear to be getting. But then there is nothing draconian in these changes to the rules either. And what we've been telling referees on a regular basis is that if a player is making an honest and fair effort to play the ball then there shouldn't be any offence.

"Of course they will pose some risks to managers. But this is not about the innocuous fouls, and it will not take one iota of physicality out of the game. But there is some naive thinking out there, about what you can get away with, and that's not what our games are about."

The chairman of the Disciplinary Task Force, Liam O'Neill, was equally confident the proposed changes were both timely and necessary. However, these disciplinary motions, because they are not experimental, will require a two-thirds majority to get passed. If they are passed they will come into effect on January 1st of next year.

"Our brief was only to discuss what happens on the field of play," stated O'Neill, "and not what happens after it, in terms of appeals and suspensions and so on.

"We wanted to deal with the player that fouls, from an early stage, and ensure he's taken out from the best part of the game. One of the most telling comments we had was from one manager who admitted, under the current system, he effectively had to coach players how to foul.

"I don't think there is an appetite for experiments any more. And by all accounts, managers have given us great support on this. We've seen plenty examples over the summer where these fouls are being committed and players are escaping unpunished.

"We've reached the stage now where these type of cynical fouls need to be taken out of the game, and put on the sideline, and we want to allow the referees to deal with that. It's also a good opportunity to begin the process of explaining the rules more clearly.

"By increasing the number of permitted substitutes to six we feel we'd be encouraging referees to take this action, when necessary, while also ensuring we keep the game to 15-a-side for as long as possible. We honestly don't want to start moving away from that."

The yellow cards wouldn't accumulate, as Duffy later pointed out, which meant there wouldn't be any issues of appeal, while the GAA's Head of Games Pat Daly was equally sure the time was ripe for change: "It is a major step forward, but we've actually been taken aback by the fact that so far there has not been one dissenting voice. No one can condone these types of fouls any longer. The game has to be about skill."

As for the hurling championship, Brennan was adamant that the proposed changes were the only untried option, outside of an open draw. "I would be optimistic the general view is this is for the overall good of hurling, and will be a very positive move . . . But if this is approved by congress, then this is the championship for 2009, and for the next three years."