Advertisement
Kildare's David Hyland is shown a black card by referee Marty Duffy. Cathal Noonan/INPHO
Change For The Better

Coincidence? The black card has led to scores per game increasing by over 10%

The GAA have released statistics to reflect the effect of the black card.

THE NUMBER OF scores per football league game has increased by over 10% since the introduction of the black card this year.

The CCCC of the GAA has released statistics to reflect the effect that the black card has had on Gaelic football.

There was on average just less than one black card being shown per Allianz football league game in 2014 while the total number of cards shown for disciplinary reasons has decreased dramatically. Over a 20 year period, the number of scores per league game has increased by over 40%.

Cards per game

The number of disciplinary cards shown to players in this year’s leagues has fallen dramatically with just 4.39 per game in 2014 (Black, Yellow and Red cards combined) being shown as opposed to 8.32 per game in the 2013 League (Yellow & Red cards combined).

The instance of black cards shown has been less than one per game played, while the number of yellow cards shown in 2014 was effectively half of the number shown during the 2013 leagues.

The average numbers of cards shown per game 2013 v 2014 are illustrated in the table in below:

INPHO / Lorraine O'Sullivan INPHO / Lorraine O'Sullivan / Lorraine O'Sullivan

Scores per game

The number of scores per game has increased by over 10% since the introduction of the new Black Card rule for cynical behaviour fouls. In the 2014 leagues, the total aggregate scores (goals and points combined) per game played was 32.77 points.

This was an increase of almost 3.5 points per game on that recorded in the 2013 leagues and 4 points per game on the 2012 totals.

The instance of goals scored rose from 1.79 per game in the 2013 leagues to 2.38 per game in 2014 with individual points scored rising by an average of 1.7 per game.

The figures released also indicate that there has been a steady and dramatic increase – in the region of 40% – in the number of scores per game recorded in Allianz Football league games over the last 20 years.

The comparable figures from twenty years ago – the 1993/1994 leagues – reveal that at that time, the total aggregate average of points per game was only 23.15, well over 9 points less than in 2014.

Four Stars – Cork and Cavan celebrate golden age in U21 football with more silverware

Dublin unveil minor hurling side to face Wexford in Leinster opener

Your Voice
Readers Comments
5
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.