Little evidence to support refixture

It is thought likely that the Leinster Council will be entrusted with the hearing of Carlow's objection to their controversial defeat in last weekend's preliminary round of the provincial championship. At a 90 minute meeting of the executive of the Carlow county board last night at Dr Cullen Park a unanimous decision was taken to appeal.

There had been confusion over which body would hear the objection now that certain functions of the provincial councils have passed to Croke Park, but speculation yesterday in headquarters where Leinster chairman Seamus Aldridge and secretary Michael Delaney were meeting with Croke Park officials, was that the new rules are clear on the matter. Rule 67 (a) states that provincial councils shall manage the provincial hurling and football championships excluding the appointment of referees and disciplinary matters arising.

If this is the case, it is likely that the matter would be heard by a meeting of the full council.

Last night's objection by Carlow effectively rests on the ground that referee Niall Barrett misapplied the rules during the course of a match in which he sent off six players. It had been revealed that the referee had disclosed to RTE radio's Brian Carthy that he had been instructed to show a yellow card for a first offence in the relevant category rather than note the player's name - as is the usual practice.

Carlow are likely to claim that this led to an unfair outcome because different methods were being applied in the other Leinster championship match between Longford and Wexford. None of the three members of the Central Referees Appointments Committee had discussed the matter with Barrett last week but it is believed that he had been briefed on the rules to be applied in Carlow.

On the face of it, there appears to be little evidence to support a refixture. The Clare-Offaly experience of last August has been cited in support of Carlow's argument but that decision was based on a cut-and-dried provision of the Official Guide: that any match not running its full course has to be refixed for the full period.

There is no specific provision for matches in which refereeing errors have an impact on the outcome. The extent to which Niall Barrett's unwitting misapprehension had a material effect on the outcome is also open to question. Of the six players sent off, three received instant red cards and one other could be said to have merited an immediate yellow card for his first offence.

If any administrative unit of the GAA starts refixing matches for refereeing errors - regardless of why those errors were made - championships will have to be run on a biennial basis in order to accommodate the extra matches.