Viewers of TG4 were baffled yesterday when Andy Moran did not receive a black card for his blatant pull back of Daithi Casey during Mayo's victory over Kerry in Castlebar.
Casey had broken through the Mayo half back line and was careering towards goal, when Moran almost nonchalantly tugged him back, swinging him around by the sleeve of his jersey. Crucially, however, he did not pull him back in such as way as to bring him to the ground. Moran did not receive a black card. Two Kerry players were handed black cards in the second half.
However, according to many observers, this has exposed a loop-hole in the new black card law and at the very least a flaw in its wording. The law only seems to stipulate that a black card be handed out for a 'pull-down.' All the examples provided in this video released by the GAA involve players been cynically dragged to the ground.
The Louth manager Aidan O Rourke, a trenchant opponent of the black card from the beginning (see below), has already complained that Dublin had employed the 'choke tackle', an import from rugby (and Les Kiss specifically), during an O'Byrne Cup match. This would certainly represent a blatant and cynical attempt to exploit the loophole in the black card law.
Black card carried. Victory for the meddlers & little to be ats who never coach. The game has been sanitised into a parody of itself
— Aidan O'Rourke (@AidanORourke) March 23, 2013
More or less everyone agrees Moran should have received a black card yesterday. Will referees follow the letter of the law or depart from the wording in the interests of the both the terrace dwellers and the casual observers favourite term, 'common sense'?
