Job done as CPA look ready to call it a day
Rule is overdue, insists Gavin
THE Club Players Association is to issue a statement inside the next 48 hours amid hardening speculation it is to be wound up. The lobbying group for GAA grassroots members was set up in 2017 with the objective to ‘fix the fixtures’ and Congress’ decision last weekend to opt for a county first split season effectively sealed that goal. A meeting of the group’s executive took place last night and while some minor issues are outstanding, Sportsmail understands there is a consensus among the leadership for the group to stand down. Meanwhile, GPA chief Paul
Flynn has hit out at elements of the GAA media, who he claims had sought to portray the inter-county players group of being in favour of cynical play because of its opposition to the penalty/ sin-bin motion passed last weekend. ‘Some media commentators have tried to portray the GPA position, as directed by you
— the players — as facilitating the continuation of cynical play. ‘What I would say to this is that you will notice that the same accusations were not made against the county boards who shared our position,’ said Flynn in a letter to members last night.
INTER-COUNTY managers and players have only themselves to blame for the GAA’s crackdown on cynical play, says former referee Brian Gavin.
In the aftermath of last weekend’s Congress, the country’s top hurlers are coming to terms with a new rule that will see a cynical foul, that denies a goalscoring chance, punished by the concession of a penalty and a 10-minute stint in the sin-bin for the offender. In a Gaelic Players Association (GPA) poll, 70 per cent of voters had opposed the move.
Indeed, the GPA’s effort to have the double-whammy sanction deferred failed after 61 per cent of delegates (60 per cent was needed for it to be passed) voted for it be trialled in this year’s Allianz League and Championship.
But Gavin, who took charge of four All-Ireland finals prior to hanging up his inter-county whistle in 2018, insisted that the intercounty game had only themselves to blame for the introduction of the new rule.
‘Managers, coaches and players have brought this on themselves,’ said Gavin, who is dismissive of fears that the new measure will make life more challenging for the country’s top whistlers.
‘It is just another rule the referee has to apply. I welcome the rule being brought in and I don’t think there is going to be as much hassle with its implementation as people might think. In this day and age, to wrap your arms around an opponent and pull somebody down — that is not sport. It is not defending.
‘I have to think it won’t inconvenience the referee too much. If it is a goalscoring opportunity, the referee will decide it is a penalty and a sin-bin.
‘I think it will raise its head a couple of times but I don’t think it will be as bad as people might think,’ Gavin told Sportsmail.
How consistently referees implement the rule when the shutters roll up on the new season will invite considerable scrutiny. Those who opposed the new rule argued at Congress that asking a match official to determine the nature of the foul, whether or not it occurred inside the 20-metre line or semi-circular arc while deciding that it denied a clear goal-scoring chance, is too much.
The latter is likely to be the most challenging aspect of the rule, However, match officials have four criteria to help assess if a cynical foul has denied a goal chance with the number and location of defenders between the offence and the goal, distance to the goal, level of control of possession by fouled player and whether the latter was moving forward to be taken into account.
If that sounds complicated to a layman, it is a decision which will be far more simply processed by a referee, argued Gavin.
‘If a lad has crossed the 20metre line and he is out by the sideline, the referee will ask himself if he was going to get into a position where he could score a goal.
‘It will come down to the referee’s discretion, but that is how it works with his decision-making on foul play anyway, so there is nothing new in that.
‘I genuinely believe referees will be comfortable with this.’
What has been less exposed to scrutiny in the debate leading up to last weekend’s Congress is how effective the rule will be in hurling where it is limited to three specific infractions, pull-down, trip and careless use of the hurley.
One of the biggest flaws in football’s black card sanctions is that in proscribing specific infractions, players are still able to commit cynical fouls while avoiding the full wrath of the rule.
There is an argument to be made that if referees can be trusted with determining what constitutes a goal chance, they could also be trusted as to what constitutes a ‘professional’ foul to deny that chance in the first instance.
‘It is something that could be looked at in the future but to get that conversation going you needed to have something like this (new rule) come in first.
‘What this will do is address the obvious cynical fouls like Will O’Donoghue’s on Stephen Bennett in the All-Ireland final but if you take Huw Lawlor’s holding of Niall Burke’s hurley in the Leinster final, the rule book will only cover that with the sanction of a free.
‘But I believe that will develop in time once we get this up and going, because I don’t think as many other cynical fouls will take place.
‘While I definitely would have sympathy for a player who ends up conceding a penalty and ends up being sent off for 10 minutes, I do believe it will go a long way to eradicating this kind of foul.
‘I don’t think anybody will want to be hit with that sanction unless their team is either well ahead or well behind because its impact on the outcome of a match would be such that you would end up regretting it for a long time to come,’ added Gavin, who believes that the rule should be embraced, rather than feared, by
“Pulling down a player isn’t defending”
“It will come down to ref’s discretion”
traditionalists.
Pointing to JJ Delaney’s famous hook in the 2014 All-Ireland final, Gavin believes that it will lead to an emphasis on certain skills on the training field.
‘Hooking and blocking are core skills and ones that there should be a lot more focus on now because what we have seen in the last couple of years has no place in our game whatsoever.
‘To put your two arms around an opponent and drag him to the ground or to put your hurley between his feet to deliberately trip him, there is no place for that.
‘If you just think of that JJ Delaney hook on Seamus Callanan, imagine if he had just wrapped his arms around Callanan and dragged him down, how celebrated would that play be now,’ queries Gavin, who believes the new rule is here to stay.
‘No one ever thought that this would come in but if it is going to improve our game, which I think it will, it is definitely worth a trial.
‘And people have to remember that what was decided last weekend was to introduce it for a trial period but I can see it staying for good because some of the incidents we saw in last winter’s Championship have no place in our game.’