“It’s a little bit of the law of unintended consequences, in terms of the FRC.”
Following Galway’s win over Donegal on Sunday, one of the FRC’s new football rules was heavily criticised on the Sunday Game.
The rules state that both sides must have three outfield players in each half at all times. However, a team that is down one or two players are allowed to amend these numbers so that they always have 11 outfield players defending in their own half.
This meant that Donegal, who had a two-man advantage for a period against Galway – after a red and black card – were unable to take full advantage of their superior numbers.
Im Kerry’s win over Tyrone, they were also down to 13 men for a period after receiving two black cards.
Speaking on the Sunday Game, former Tyrone player Enda McGinley said: “It was a talking point before this weekend as it looked as if black and red cards weren’t impacting games as much as they have in previous years.
“It’s a little bit of the law of unintended consequences, in terms of the FRC.
“I would imagine they did balance this up and this was flagged up last year, in terms of the interpro games, where it was mentioned, but I think the FRC was banking on teams using more kicking to attack faster and that if there were extra forwards up the pitch that there would be gain there.
“That element hasn’t come into the game as much as we would have thought.
“Most attacks are being run up the pitch, which means the extra men up the pitch, you’re getting no attacking (advantage).”
Mayo legend Lee Keegan agreed, and labelled the rule as ‘not fit for purpose’, and expects the FRC to amend it when they are allowed to make changes after round five of the league.
He added: “Teams that lose men are not being punished at all.
“They are gaining from the fact that they can say: ‘We are going to keep these guys up and keep playing the way we are playing’.
“And it is the team that has the full complement of players that are getting punished.
“They have to change it because it is not fit for purpose.
“It’s null and void for the team that actually is disciplined and keeping their temper and going about the game in the right manner.
“Today we saw clearly that it didn’t influence Donegal or Tyrone.”
