REFS TURN BLIND EYE TO A FOUL CULTURE

I AM always hesitant in giving out about referees as I have no doubt that it is one of the most thankless roles in the GAA. That said, we can’t just go around thanking people just for having the courage of their convictions in fulfilling the most demanding of roles. We should also demand that when they perform at an elite level, their competence should reflect it. I am sad to say that is not the case. We are witnessing a fouling culture now in hurling which is flourishing because of a lack of action by referees. I made no friends among my own tribe when I suggested that Limerick had mastered the art of the deliberately accidental foul, by using high arms in a swarm defence press which invariably means that the ball carrier hasn’t a chance and is forced to turn it over. I counted five instances of that in Limerick’s facile win over Laois which went unpunished and it is not just the champions who are using neck-high tackles without drawing cautions or frees. I played in a time when the game was a lot more physical but there were fouls you could not get away with, including ‘chopping down’ on an opponents’ stick. That is also now happening without being punished. There is no hand-pass rule; just a game of throw and catch which is diminishing the game as a spectacle. As for the over carrying rule, that appears to be a simply a rough guideline, nothing more. In short, we either apply the rules or we forget about them.