REFEREES COULD HAVE the power to issue black cards next year as part of the GAA’s efforts to clamp down on cynical tactics.
Under the amended proposals published by the Football Review Committee this afternoon, players shown a black card will have to be automatically substituted and will not be allowed to return to the game.
The move “is aimed at reducing deliberate and cynical fouling and also to increase respect towards referees and fellow players,” the GAA said in a statement.
It follows discussions between the Rules Advisory Committee and the FRC, whose original plan to introduce mandatory substitutions for yellow card offences was labelled a “joke” by Clare manager Mick O’Dwyer and criticised as too severe by others.
The revised motion is now due to go before the GAA’s Annual Congress in Derry this March and, if approved, would be implemented in matches from 1 January 2014.
Under the change the following five infractions would be deemed worthy of a black card:
- To deliberatively pull down an opponent.
- To deliberately trip an opponent with hand, arm or foot.
- To deliberately body collide with an opponent after he has played the ball away or for the purpose of taking him out of the movement of play.
- To use abusive or provocative language or gestures to players.
- To remonstrate in an aggressive manner with a match official.
Teams will be permitted to make automatic substitutions for the first three black cards but after that, any further offences would see players expelled from the game without any replacement. The present yellow card rules will remain with players who receive a second yellow card in a match sent off without replacement.
In inter-county competitions, players who receive a cumulative total of three black cards or three double yellow cards will be given a one-match suspension. These suspensions will not apply to an All-Ireland Final however and would instead be carried over to the next match.
In line with these changes, the FRC has also proposed that the number of substitutions permitted in a match should be increased from five to six.
