At any one time, there is usually a committee meeting up to examine ways to improve Gaelic football.
Sean Boylan is a member of the Jarlath Burns led committee which has just submitted several proposals to Central Council, recommending the introduction of the mark and the tap and go free witnessed in the International Rules series.
Speaking in Croke Park at the announcement heralding Allianz's continued sponsorship of the National League, Boylan said that he was happy to see Gaelic football was evolve but did suggest changes that could help ward off cynical play.
The black card, he feels, has not achieved its objective in this regard. He favours a much more radical solution. If a player pulls down another player in the closing stages of a match, then rather than doling out irrelevant black and yellow cards, a penalty is awarded to the fouled player. Not only that but the resulting penalty would be four points as opposed to three.
I put it to you this way: say somebody pulls a player down and there’s a minute to go. For doing that, instead of a black card or a yellow card there’s a penalty but that penalty would be four points and not three points.
Those are things I would love to see happening. In other words, you would be taking the decisions on the field of play and not in a boardroom. I would just love to see us getting to that stage.
Another proposal of the Burns committee is that the clock stop for substitutions, a measure designed to prevent time-wasting.
[Irish Examiner]
