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GAA Director-General Paraic Duffy. INPHO/Ryan Byrne
experiment

Duffy admits that yellow card rule may be reviewed

The GAA Director-General also insists that Hawkeye has to be used in inter-county championship games this year.

GAA DIRECTOR-GENERAL Paraic Duffy has conceded that the yellow card rule proposed by the FRC may need to be reviewed.

The Football Review Committee, chaired by Eugene McGee, have proposed the rule which would see a yellow card a dismissal offence.

But the new ruling has provoked a backlash from several figures, with Clare manager Mick O’Dwyer one of the most vocal as he has labelled it a ‘joke’.

Duffy insists that description is ‘over the top’ but does admit that there are concerns about the ruling and that it could struggle to be passed at Congress without being modified.

“I have huge respect for him (Mick O’Dwyer) and what he has achieved,” Duffy told RTÉ Radio 1.

“But I think it’s over the top to describe it as a joke. I accept that people have serious reservations. It’s questionable that it would get through Congress in it’s current form.

“The proposals are generally first-class and extremely pragmatic. I hope the bulk of them will go through. I do accept there is a geniune concern that the yellow card proposal may be a concern.

“That’s a matter for the committee if they may feel the need to modify. They’ve a few weeks to do that.”

Duffy also revealed that the score detection system Hawkeye will be installed by the time of the All-Ireland club finals on St Patrick’s Day and in full operation by the commencement of the 2013 senior championships.

But he expressed reservations about adopting video technology as a means for referee to review contentious decisions during games.

“I’m not in favour of video technology to review referees decisions during games. You’ll end up with a version of football for example like the NFL where the game is constantly stopped for people to review decisions.

“Plus the fact the cost of implementing that across the board would be prohibitive and probably beyond our resources.”

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