TOO MUCH TIME ON REFS’ HANDS
Reversal of motion has come back to bite GAA
THERE was plenty of drama in Croke Park on Sunday, but there could have been more. If the GAA had obeyed their own democratic ideals, there would have been a clock counting down those tense final minutes as Monaghan searched in vain for an equaliser.
Twice in recent years, GAA Congress had voted through the concept of a hooter — similar to that used in ladies football. It was seen as a way of taking the issue of time-keeping out of the hands of an already over-taxed referee. But, after a 2015 review by Croke Park, there was a motion to remove it from the official guide.
So, the amount of injury-time — such a bone of contention for Malachy O’Rourke and the whole of Monaghan last Sunday — is still at the discretion of the referee. And like everything else, he can get it wrong.
In a summer when we have grown accustomed to five or six minutes of injury time at the end of Championship clashes, Anthony Nolan seemed remarkably stingy with his three minutes last Sunday. It was especially the case considering the number of substitutions made in the second half, as well as the amount of stoppages.
For example, when Rory Beggan trotted forward to kick his first long-range free in the 37th minute, there were more than 35 seconds between the foul and the ball being kicked. A few minutes later, 40 seconds passed between a foul being called and Lee Brennan kicking a free. In the 47th minute, when Ronan McNamee was booked, there was a minute between the foul and Conor McManus taking the resulting kick. In the 62nd minute, Peter Harte received attention for almost a minute.
So, adding on just three minutes made absolutely no sense. But even though referee Nolan had a poor afternoon with his whistle overall in Croke Park, this is one thing that can’t be laid at his feet. The blame belongs to the GAA.
After all, they are the ones who decided to ignore the democratic process that saw Wexford club, Clonard, get their motion to introduce clocks and hooters passed into rule at Congress on two occasions. It happened first in 2010 when then GAA director general Páraic Duffy claimed that putting the system into operation would be ‘nightmarish’. Following a report to Central Council, the rule was dismissed because of cost and ‘practical difficulties’. Three years later, the Wexford club came back with another proposal. Congress backed it and yet again. Central Council put a roadblock in the way, claiming that ‘officials might fail to operate the clock or hooter properly’ and that it could encourage ‘negative possession’. Negative possession? Even without a hooter, Gaelic football has already gone down that road as anyone who saw the final 10 minutes of Dublin’s Super 8s match against Donegal – and the keep-ball played by the All-Ireland champions — will agree. Interestingly, it was Dublin boss Jim Gavin who was one of the most vocal critics of Croke Park when they decided against brining in the hooter system.
In light of the increasing trend within Gaelic football to retain possession, Central Council’s report makes interesting reading. ‘There was a temptation — almost exclusively in football — to play “keepball” over and back in defence while protecting a lead. This did not make for entertaining viewing and led, in some of the games, to games literally petering out, even when on occasion there was very little between the teams on the scoreboard. This type of negative possession also led to a lot of passing backwards in order to retain the possession.’
But keep-ball already exists in Gaelic football. There is a tendency among all teams to protect a lead, as it is. That’s one of the reasons behind the significant decline in crowds for this year’s All-Ireland semi-finals, particularly Dublin’s clash with Galway on Saturday.
Croke Park were fearful that the introduction of a countdown clock would make the games less entertaining, less of a spectacle. But that is the case already. Teams are already protecting their lead. They are already playing keep-ball, even without the hooter.
And remember, more than 70 per cent of delegates voted for the hooter. They agreed that time-keeping should be taken out of the referee’s hands. And when they went back to Congress to include the hooter in hurling, more than 80 per cent of delegates passed it.
And yet, here we are, more than three years later, with another timekeeping controversy because a referee has one job too many to do.
If the GAA had followed its own rules, we might have already seen a drastically different game. The ball would probably be in play a lot more than it is. Place-kickers wouldn’t be spending 60 seconds or more on taking a free. And there would have been no doubt as to when the drama should have ended last Sunday.
The hooter system works perfectly in ladies football. It has become an accepted part of the drama. It could be that, too, in Gaelic football and hurling, if it was permitted.
Instead, the issue of three minutes of injury-time is just one of the many decisions made by Anthony Nolan that they will be stewing over in Monaghan this week. It’s not fair on them, or the referee.