When a referee gives a red card for something that’s not a red card offence, no-one blames the red card.
They pile on the referee for not following the rules well enough.
When Gareth Bale didn’t get a red card against Ireland on Friday, no-one blamed the red card. The referee was strung up for refusing to apply the law which is not open to interpretation by him and then for perhaps indirectly encouraging reckless lunges like what ended up breaking Seamus Coleman’s leg.
When a player dives to the ground and pretends to have been hit to get a man sent off, we don’t call for the removal of the red card because of the injustice that has been served. We call for better officiating – maybe a more sophisticated approach – and we demand more honesty from players who are disgracing the game.
What a complete joke https://t.co/VvWuWGzKBG #Sludden #Keegan #Mayo #Tyrone
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 26, 2017
In fairness, the black card isn’t perfect. Although it was brought in for a clear reason – to stop cynical play – it has some silly elements to it.
- Having to bring a man to ground is nonsense – some of the most cynical and deliberate fouls don’t involve this.
- Remonstrating with a referee has never been punished with a black card.
- Verbal abuse? Lord above.
Conor Lane had a fine season in 2016 which was rewarded with him taking charge of the first All-Ireland football final.
His decision on Sunday to give Niall Sludden a black card was plain crazy though and it’s one which Colm Parkinson thinks he shouldn’t get away with without being taken to task.
“Technically, tackle technique, at under-10 and under-12 you learn to go with the near hand. He didn’t go with the near hand but there’s nothing to say that, if you go with the other hand, it’s a foul,” Wooly let rip on a lively GAA Hour podcast.
“With the near hand, you can’t get a good slap on the ball – you don’t have the leverage. He used his far hand, he tried to slap the ball out of Lee Keegan’s hands, Lee Keegan went down and I don’t blame Keegan because he was going very fast and the momentum can carry you over.
“It was a decent tackle, it wasn’t even a foul and Niall Sludden’s gone. That’s wrong.
“We’ve defended the black card all the time on this show. I still think if referees didn’t keep making a balls of it, it’s a good, good rule, if they keep it for obvious, blatant professional fouls – which that was not. It was a debatable foul. We could have a debate here over whether or not it was a foul.
“Stop blaming the black card. The black card is alright. Maybe it needs a bit of a redefinition into the offences – make it a little easier. But the black card isn’t the problem, it’s the referees. Lane. Let’s blame Lane. Let the headlines be about this referee who gave a black card for this. Not the black card itself.”
Listen to the full heated chat on The GAA Hour from 13:50 below.
