LAYING DOWN THE LAW
Congress votes to stamp out cynical play in hurling while split season is given expected green light
BY THE tightest of margins, hurling voted to strike a blow against cynical play yesterday. At the end of as heated a debate as a remotely-held Congress could generate, delegates voted by 61 per cent to 39 per cent in favour of Motion 20 – just over the 60 per cent majority needed – allowing referees to award a penalty and send a player to the sin-bin for 10 minutes in the event of committing a cynical, proscribed foul inside the 20-metre line and semicircular arc that is deemed to have denied a clear goal-scoring chance.
While it is a rule change – and it will only be in place on an experimental basis this year – that also applies to football, yesterday’s debate reminded that this motion was designed to bring some law and order to hurling which, up to this point, had the avoided the kind of tough love which the black card has visited on the big-ball code.
Those wishing to leave hurling untouched fought the hard battle yesterday with several pleas to defer the motion until Special Congress can, the GAA hopes, convene for real in the autumn.
The core argument of those opposed to introducing the new sanction was directed at the challenges it will present referees charged with policing it. Limerick chairman John Cregan claimed that the GAA should delay a decision and consider introducing video technology to ensure there was a safety net in backing up match officials.
‘We are asking our referees to determine three issues in a split second. This is a huge call for a referee to make in real time,’ Cregan warned delegates.
‘We believe in some instances that referees may make an error and such an error that would lead to a penalty being awarded and a player sent off for 10 minutes could be game-changing, game-ending or even season-ending without recourse for the offending team.
‘We feel, at the very least, technology is required to help police these decisions and that would help ensure there would be no injustices,’ added the Limerick chairman.
However, Congress held its nerve and those seeking reform had their cause helped by the fact that the motion was proposed by Willie Barrett, head of the national referee’s committee, who insisted the new rule wouldn’t be an issue for match officials.
‘I am confident our referees will apply this consistently. We don’t believe a sin-bin on its own would be a sufficient deterrent as a sanction.
‘Those who want this deferred are not facing up to the reality of the situation,’ warned Barrett, who told delegates that referees would be provided with a four-part criteria in determining ‘a clear goalscoring chance’.
‘It will be consistent with what applies in other sports; the number and location of defenders with not more than one defender between the offence player and the goal, the distance between the offence and the goal as in the closer to the goal it takes the more likely it is going to be a goal-scoring opportunity, the control the player in possession has off the ball when the offence takes place, and the player must be moving towards the ball when the foul is committed,’ explained Barrett.
That clarity may have played a part in edging a vote over the line 12 months after 82% voted against an attempt to tackle cynicism in the game.
‘I think it got a good airing, and I think everyone who wanted to speak, got a chance to speak on it,’ said GAA director-general Tom Ryan.
‘I’m pleased with the process that it went through, and I’m pleased it was done properly in difficult circumstances.
‘Also the thing to bear in mind is, it’s a trial. We shouldn’t be afraid to embark upon new things and try new things, and I think it will make a difference,’ added Ryan.
But, then, timing was also the motion’s friend. For the first time, outside of a Special Congress, all 37 motions – 10 others had been deferred – were passed.
Indeed only one other motion went to a full vote – a stipulation that a maximum of 16 teams enter senior and intermediate county championships from 2023.
Despite opposition from the floor, most pointedly from Tyrone who warned it amounted to interference in how county board’s conducted their affairs, it was beaten on a 66 to 34 per cent vote.
The technological challenges in conducting the vote dampened the appetite for the digital ballot box – it took over an hour to get the result of the first vote back – but, in truth, there was an absence of contentious proposals on the agenda.
It is remarkable that arguably the most seismic decision taken by a modern Congress – moving the finish of the All-Ireland’s to a midsummer conclusion to a facilitate a county-first split season – hardly registered.
‘The pandemic, perhaps, inadvertently, gave us an awareness that we needed to recalibrate our playing schedule,’ said Larry McCarthy, in his first speech as the new president.
‘I am delighted that today we have adopted the split-season model so that our clubs and club players will have a defined season and a certainty of fixture. As a result, everybody can plan their lives because people will know when games are taking place.’
‘A SIN-BIN ON ITS OWN WOULDN’T BE A SUFFICIENT DETERRENT’