TOMÁS Ó SÉ was visibly agitated on The Sunday Game last night as he insisted that it’s time to dispense with Gaelic Football’s black card.
Ó Sé and fellow panellist Aaron Kernan were reacting to the black card picked up by Kildare’s Neil Flynn at the end of Saturday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final against Wexford at Croke Park.
Flynn dragged Wexford’s Eoghan Nolan to the ground on the Hogan Stand touchline, right on halfway, but Ó Sé rightly pointed out that there was absolutely no benefit to Wexford from Flynn’s dismissal as referee Rory Hickey blew for full-time seconds later.
Former Kerry ace Ó Sé said: “It (black card) was brought in to throw cynicism out of the game.
“Flynn was black-carded in the last seconds of the game. What benefit is it to Wexford?
“He’s sent off, goes to the sideline, next play it’s blown up.
“They (Wexford) should have been given at least 10 or 20 seconds to benefit.
“If you ask refs, players, managers, guys involved in this, do they think it’s working?
I don’t think it is. We have problems defining it, we have problems implementing it. I don’t think it’s consistent. I’m sick of it to be honest with you.”
Kernan insisted that it’s time to reward teams with frees within scoreable range for offences of this nature.
He said: “If you have a 30-metre penalty, a 50-metre penalty given about deliberate drag-downs like that one there, the referee moves the ball into a scoreable position and Neil Flynn knows he has to make a proper attempt to tackle.
“It’s too easy for him to go in and try to rugby-tackle a man to the ground.
“He knows he’s too far out to score, all he has to do is step off the field and let every single Kildare player get behind the ball.
“Wexford weren’t going to score anyway then, there’s no advantage at all to the attacking team. It didn’t cut out cynicism so what’s its purpose?”
What do you think of the black card in its current guise? Is there anything that can be done to fix the current flaws with the rule? Leave your feedback in the comments section below…
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It was good in theory but it just hasn’t come off. Scoreable frees is a good idea that deserves trialling.
The black card only punishes cynical tackles. It will never eliminate it from the game. No player in their right mind is going to let a player just run through on goal, like in the past they gave away the free, took the yellow card and went back to it with the mindset of giving away a point instead of a goal. They’ll still do the same but now just take the black card instead.
Change it to red?
The black card isn’t perfect but it is a major improvement my problem with it is that it tends to help the stronger teams with stronger benches
Totally agree Len, far from perfect but necessary. Not surprised to hear o’sé is sick of it, kerry are resporting to a lot of cynicalfouls these says.
Scoreable frees are the only solution. Straight in front on the 21. In hurling a foul anywhere in your half is likely going to lead to a point but in football there’s no such fear so fouls are great value
Black card should lead to a 10 min sin bin for a start.From the moment I heard the rule I could not see any real disadvantage to the offending team,the threat is eliminated,momentum stopped and they still end up with 15 players on the field.I hate the way it wasnt trialed before it was implemented.
Awarding a scoreable free would be a better solution. But a straight red should be given for denying a clear goal scoring chance
Deliberate body collide after the ball is played away is nearly gone out of the game. It’s worked brilliantly for that cynical challenge. I also think it’s worked and benefits the game as a whole. With seconds left on the clock, most players would sacrifice themselves for the team and take that card. Nothing will cut that out of the game completely.
It would have worked if the original proposal had gone through (no replacement for a player getting a black card) but it was diluted prior to Congress.
Anywhere inside the 20 give a penalty,any where outside the 20 give a free on the 20,no real need for cards but maybe if a player was bearing down on goal give a red
Yerra