There is nothing inherently wrong with the black card.
That's the view of Pat McEnaney, the GAA's former referee chief, who was a big advocate for its introduction back in 2013. He says, any issues that may arise because of the black card is because of referees not applying it consistently enough.
There were several incidents that came from the drawn All-Ireland final on Sunday - with RTE's Sunday Game panel picking out at least three times when a black card should have been issued - but wasn't.
Although McEnaney didn't see the Sunday Game discussion because he was at the game, he agrees that the referee didn't use consistency when it comes to the black card rules.
McEnaney agreed with the black card call to James McCarthy, and the yellow card to Michael Darragh Macauley - and also thinks that Cillian O'Connor should "definitely" have been black-carded for pulling down Darren Daly.
Has the black card been a success in taking cynical play out of the game like the body check? The answer is ‘yes’. Have referees been consistent with the black card? The answer is ‘no’. We need to fix that problem. The black card is doing its job but referees are not being consistent enough in applying it. Why get rid of it? It’s like the 120km speed limit on the M1. Do we get rid of it because people are breaking it all the time or do we try and implement it consistently?
If there is something better out there than the black card then let’s have it but you can’t say the body-check hasn’t all but gone out of the game. People forget about the amount of it that was going on before the black card.
McEnaney was keen to praise referee's for time-keeping as well which he believes has lead to less time-wasting.
There hasn’t been one massive mistake with the black card but referee are still not good enough with it on a regular basis.
[Irish Examiner]
See Also: GAA Looking At Fines For Pre-Match Handbags Between Dublin And Mayo
Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
