Sin bin works for rugby so why not for hurling?
OVER the past week I’ve been thinking about the game the way it was, and how much it has changed. I read a piece recently about Eddie Keher — his career stats were just incredible. And that was in an era of heavy sliotars and thin-shaped hurleys.
Our family buys all its hurls from Brian Gath. I went down recently with one of the lads to get fresh ones and the size of the bás now is huge.
‘You want to see the hurls we played with,’ I said and Brian produced one of Brian Whelahan’s old hurls from back in the day; it was half the size at the end in terms of controlling the sliotar. And to think of what he — and the likes of Keher — were able to do with it.
It just brought home to me how the game is constantly evolving. Players adapt. They are stronger and fitter now and there is far more sports science involved in the whole training of teams. The standard of the modern game is fantastic (don’t let anyone tell you it was better in the past!).
I watched the 1994 All-Ireland on eir Sport recently and it was a hugely enjoyable game – tough and manly, with lots of ground hurling thrown in.
But it was completely different to today’s game.
The hurling and football last weekend, though, showed how things haven’t necessarily changed for the better. Moorefield’s fullback got a lot of stick — rightly so — for going down holding his face after Corofin lost Martin Farragher to a straight red card at the start of the All-Ireland club football semifinal for next to nothing. Whether it was 1994 or earlier, during Keher’s time, that sort of behaviour simply wasn’t part of your psyche or part of the game.
I’m constantly reminded of that famous image of Mick Holden pulling Barney Rock up off the ground after taking a big hit. There might have been different blows struck but cheating or getting a player sent off by feigning injury, or going down softly, just wasn’t done.
The early rounds of the hurling League has thrown up plenty of instances of deliberate fouling with Ian O’Regan wheeling Martin Keoghan to the ground in the Waterford-Kilkenny game being the worst example. A black card certainly has to be considered but my preferred option has always been the sin bin. It’s not about copying other sports but it works in rugby, so why not use it? Your team suffer when you are off the field for that 10-minute spell. If there is a cynical foul, particularly when there is a goal chance on, then the player in question has to be properly punished. It is happening all the time at the moment and players can’t be seen to be getting away with it. TJ Reid got the crucial goal in that same game but he would likely have suffered the same fate only he was too strong to be pulled down by Tadhg de Búrca.
A hurling coach will always tell his players not to foul… unless the opposition is in on goal.
What is going on also raises the question of whether enough is being done to support referees who are under enormous pressure. I don’t think there is. Look at the level of finance in terms of the costs associated with inter-county teams — over €25 million last year. And yet we put little investment in to the man at the centre of it all.
Brian Gavin retired recently at 40 years of age. I know him a long time and, friendship aside, he’s the best referee around. Yet he only took charge of one Championship game last summer.
It has to be about a lot more than hitting 17.2 in a bleep test. Referees are being pushed hard on reaching this physical standard over a 20metre run. It’s only part of a much bigger range of skills such as communication. That’s why I think there needs to be a semi-professional panel of elite referees.
Take the top dozen or so in the country and ensure they are properly compensated and have better support structures to enable them to carry out such an important job to the best of their ability.
See then if the expanded use of a television match official or replays can help them. With so much at stake now and the time invested, players will do whatever it takes to test the limits of the rulebook.
If there was a culture of supporting referees in this way, you might be able to entice a few high profile ex-players to take up a whistle.
Let a semi-professional elite panel of referees cover across League, Championship and the big club games. Do what is needed to get the same consistent message across.
It’s the lack of consistency that drives supporters, players and managers insane. The WaterfordKilkenny clash seemed to be officiated with a different set of rules to Clare-Cork where Paud O’Dwyer seemed to be blowing for every minor matter. Meanwhile, lads were nearly getting decapitated in Walsh Park before Fergal Horgan blew his whistle.
If players see a weakness in the rulebook, they’ll exploit it. That’s what’s happening at the moment.