As the weird events of the weekend slowly sink in to the consciousness, it is now emerging that the championship of 1998 is on course to be regarded as one of the most influential in the GAA's history. Like a lot of history-making, it won't exactly be painless but hard decisions on a range of issues are now inevitable.
Most immediately, a special congress will be held in Wexford at the end of October to pass judgement on the two-year experiment with the hurling championship. But recent events have also raised the whole question of refereeing duties and the administration of discipline.
First things first. It is hard to imagine that anyone seriously believes the old hurling championship to have been better for the game than the system used over the past two years. There are those who have suffered from its implementation, primarily the Ulster champions whose annual All-Ireland debut has been relegated to a quarter-final rather than a semi-final.
It has been argued here before that the best way of investing a more competitive element into the Ulster champions' quarter-final is to fix the relevant match for Casement Park on an annual basis. Whereas balancing the odds in a championship match isn't strictly within the remit of Croke Park, there is a case that hurling would benefit from a stronger northern challenge.
Giving the Ulster champions a promotional push is on a par with the assistance given Offaly 30 years ago when they were allowed into a higher division of the NHL to facilitate their development. County teams are the main marketing device at the disposal of a county board and helping out Antrim, Down or Derry in this fashion would advance hurling in the province.
One element of the new championship which has been a disappointment is the quarter-final attendances both this year and last. Crowds on each occasion have been in the region of 25,000 and a month ago this turnout looked unimpressive in the vast confines of Croke Park.
Accordingly arguments made 12 months ago - when the quarter-finals weren't played at Ceannarus - that the matches were demeaned by being played outside of Dublin hold little water.
Other promotional aims of the experiment have been achieved. There have been more big occasions - in the case of Clare-Offaly, it might be argued, too many - and better quality semi-finals.
Objections which centre on the sanctity of the knock-out system in the championship were argued out before the introduction of the experiment. Suffice to say that two of the biggest beneficiaries of the idea have been - despite their at times curmudgeonly acceptance of the fact - Tipperary and Offaly, both of whom conduct county championships in which defeated teams can progress.
Necessary amendments to the rules have received a good bit of airtime over the last week. The issue of timekeeping has been frequently mentioned and would appear to command unanimity on the need for referees to be relieved of the duty.
Maybe the GAA are unlucky to have been caught so badly by a timekeeping error in such a big match. Although Saturday's events were an accident waiting to happen, there is evidence that the issue may have been addressed in the relatively near future.
GAA Director General Liam Mulvihill proposed in his annual report - an influential forum within the association - that the system of match officials be overhauled. Amongst the proposals was the deployment of an official to keep time and register substitutions in a central zone on the sideline.
Arguably a more disturbing trend all summer has been the disciplinary problems in both football and hurling. Football launched a jihad on personal fouls whereas hurling has started to ignore them. Crackdown versus backdown.
The only thing wrong with the crackdown is that it has not been implemented thoroughly. Last Sunday was a prime example. Referee John Bannon was scrupulous for the early part of the match, but backed off the prospect of making history by sending off two brothers in an All-Ireland semi-final despite being granted ample scope by Emmet McKeever.
Saturday saw even worse transgressions against the official guide. For whatever reason, Jimmy Cooney chose not to dismiss Michael Duignan and Johnny Pilkington after blatant fouls. Not a soul could argue that the players didn't deserve it even though no neutral wanted to see the Leinster side weakened, given the cracking match in progress.
These incidents on separate days demonstrate that the on-field system of disciplining players is not working. Getting booked, instead of being a warning that moves a player closer to being ordered off, has become as insurance policy against the ultimate sanction. Having a player sent off, instead of warning a team of the consequences of misbehaviour, simply convinces players that no more of them are going to go.
Pat Daly, the Games Development and Coaching Officer in Croke Park, has interesting ideas on dealing with the problem. He believes that use of a sin-bin - ordering players off for, say, 10 minutes - and allowing for the replacement of sent-off players would radically alter the disciplinary environment in matches.
Were referees to be in a position to punish individuals without fundamentally altering the balance of matches (which can benefit the offending or offended team), they might be more willing to take action. A team's replacement would have to come out of their allocation of substitutes, so there would be a considerable disincentive.
Opponents of the idea argue that allowing dismissed players to be replaced would encourage the fielding of hit-men who could retire when their work was done, making way for someone else. Unfortunately at present under current rules, there is no guarantee that such felons will be given the line at all.
An inter-county player once explained that his team's policy was to intervene in all flashpoints, whether their own or opposing players were in trouble with the referee, and protest that sendings-off would ruin the game. The purpose was to dilute the official's authority and make it hard for him to impose the ultimate sanction at any stage of the match. Fear of `ruining the game' is at present ruining the game.
Finally, the suspension system is currently shown up as discredited. Misbehaviour in an All-Ireland final shouldn't be treated with any less gravity than misbehaviour in a provincial first round. Yet under the present rules, a player can receive a nine-month suspension for disgracing himself in September and not miss a single championship match whereas a three-month suspension in June can rule someone out for up to half-a-dozen championship matches.
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