Ruaidhrí O’Connor: It’s time for rugby to introduce black card
Game’s grey areas mean officials need option between yellow and red for reckless play
THEIR headquarters may be walking distance from Croke Park but it’s not clear how much heed is paid to Ireland’s national games in Rugby House in Dublin 2. And, if they do skim the sports pages for news of the GAA, the bigwigs running the oval ball game would be forgiven for thinking the introduction of the black card in Gaelic football was one of the worst decisions ever made.
Yet, the introduction of a sanction for offences between yellow and red cards is exactly what rugby needs.
Last weekend brought the issue to the forefront of the agenda as Geordan Murphy stormed into the headlines with his comments about rugby becoming “too PC”.
The former Ireland full-back was roundly criticised for his remarks which came in the wake of Will Spencer’s red card when playing for Leicester Tigers against Wasps last weekend.
Murphy has since spoken of regretting his comments and says the incident can be a watershed for the sport but it is unlikely he’d have been as perturbed initially if he’d been able to replace the player and carry on with 15 on the pitch.
As interim coach at Welford Road, Murphy is basically on a year-long audition for the top job.
A win away to Wasps would have been a serious statement and it was a real possibility until Spencer hurled himself at Tom Taylor and left referee Ian Tempest with little choice but to send him off.
It effectively ended Leicester’s chances of winning the game.
There are famous examples of rugby teams winning with 14 men; closest to home is Ireland’s stunning triumph in Cape Town in 2016 when CJ Stander was shown red for connecting with the head of Pat Lambie with his hip.
However, the burden of playing with a man less for more than 10 minutes is routinely too much for a team to bear.
Whether it’s Jerome Garces’ decision to send Jared Payne off early in their European Cup quarter-final against Saracens in 2014 for taking out an airborne Alex Goode or his call to dismiss Sonny Bill Williams for a high hit on Anthony Watson during New Zealand’s second Test against the Lions last year, the team is punished for an individual mistake.
In all three cases, the referee’s decision changed the game. Ireland may have won, but their game-plan was altered completely by the call.
In none of the referenced cases could the player be accused of deliberately going out to injure an opponent,
but because of the focus on concussion and the injuries suffered by the opponent involved, the official was left with little choice under the laws. They need another option.
In rugby league, players are put ‘on report’ which means they will be dealt with at a later hearing and could face a ban – but in a knockout game or a three-game series it hardly seems fair an offender would still have an influence on the result. There have been calls for an orange card, an extra 10 minutes in the sin-bin for players who recklessly endanger an opponent but who don’t go out with intent to cause harm.
But the black card, which punishes the individual but not the team, makes sense for a game grappling with its approach to concussion.
“The black card makes sense, because going down to 14 men does ruin the game when it’s an accident like that,” former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan said this week on Newstalk.
“Maybe the GAA are ahead of the curve here, they took up the yellow and red card after rugby which did it after soccer and now they’ve the black card which has a lot of logic to it.”
Players should still receive red cards for deliberate fouls, while the yellow card remains the appropriate punishment for cynical and repeat offences.
Removed
But when a player’s poor technique or bad timing inadvertently leads to an opponent’s injury, there should be scope for him or her to be removed from the game and replaced so that he or she is punished but the contest continues.
The match at Welford Road last weekend was a cracking advertisement for Premiership rugby, played out in front of a crowd of 18,000 paying fans and a television audience paying a sizeable premium for their subscription.
Player welfare remains the most important responsibility for those running the sport, but if you want to legislate head injuries out of the game then there needs to be a more innovative approach that keeps the contest going while punishing offenders.
The black card may not be the most loved element of the Gaelic football rule-book, but it could provide rugby with a simple solution.