Ruling the rules It required some sleight of hand to get them through but GAA politics has always been the art of the possible and the Rules Task Force will be happy with the recent adoption of their proposals at the Special Congress. It remains to be seen if they will survive the early spring of 2009 but my hope is they will. In a nutshell, certain types of fouls are now categorised in a more user friendly way for all the interested parties: the referee, the player, the administrator and especially the spectator. My message to the Rules Task Force and by extension the CCCC, is a simple one: keep at it and don't lose your nerve. As each month goes by every unit of the GAA is slowly but surely absorbing your decisions and the bottom line is your committees should not be for turning. If you continue to show resolve the association will, in time, be all the better for your stance. And perhaps it will be the beginning of the end for that last blight on the GAA landscape - indiscipline. I have always had a keen interest in the rules of Gaelic football. And while we all want to be fair and correct about our pronouncements, it is difficult to find a neutral party in a sport that uses the parish and its associated tribalism as a starting point. The playing rules are generally left to the referees to learn - sure what would a player, manager or supporter be bothered with such old details? And so it is extremely difficult to find well-considered, accurate and best of all, thought-provoking debate. But it appears 2008 is a season when Nickey Brennan has at last embraced the subject of the lack of discipline, on and off the field of play, and identified it as suitable legacy for his presidency. This is the type of leadership expected from senior office holders. And it appears also to be a season where the CCCC has at last begun to live up to its responsibilities by proposing sanction in a consistent and fair way. We can all debate the nuances of any particular case but I cannot, to date, find much fault with their application of rule. The Playing Rules of Gaelic football and the sanctions associated with breaches are subjects of interest to only a small minority in the GAA. They are, to quote a forgotten source 'adhered to much in the way a teenager observes the speed limit-more or less optional'. On appointment as manager to teams over the past twenty years, one of the first exercises I conduct is a pretty straight-forward test on the rules of Gaelic football. I imagine it will not surprise you to read the average 'success' rate is 40%. It gives us the necessary ammunition when we chastise players who are well known to rant at referees. Imagine if a referee applied this level of expertise to his responsibilities? For every five calls he made he gets two of them wrong! I often ask players what would they think of an elite golfer or snooker player, hoping to play at the top end of his sport, going into pressurised finals and knowing only 40% of the rules. Being a pundit on The Sunday Game often brings us into direct conflict with the CCCC, players and referees. Of course we have the use of the video but remember, so too does the CCCC. Many observers feel we set the agenda for the Monday review in HQ but my own sense is that anybody who believes staunch members of the CCCC are guided by the opinions of pundits out in RTE is misguided. 'Trial by TV' makes for a simple and startling headline but is hardly accurate. I say this with absolute confidence because I know for certain the authorities, when reframing the rules on video evidence, clarification of referee's reports and occasions where officials missed incidents altogether, were extremely careful to leave the FINAL decision with the match referee in incidents where he had already dealt with the infraction. Thus, where a referee is seen to deal with a case during the progress of a game, ONLY he alone can inform the CCCC that he made a mistake and then remedial action can take place. If he is happy he dealt with the incident properly, then that is the end of the 'investigation' and NO further action can be taken. Naturally, if he admits a mistake has occurred, a different sanction can be proposed. As an example, recall the Noel O'Leary 'strike/punch/belt/wallop/slap/caress' on Graham Geraghty in last year's All Ireland semi-final (Cork v Meath). As I understand matters, the CCCC wrote to referee Brian Crowe and noted the yellow card he administered when many thought the sanction should have been a red card. Mr. Crowe replied he was more than happy with his decision and so the referee's decision was final and O'Leary played in the final. It will be very interesting to see if new rules constructed specifically to remove violence from a game (at the time of writing, the International Rules series versus Australia is about to kick-off) will actually work. It will be a good indicator for the spring football and the trial period for the 'highly disruptive' foul category. Will they work? Two of the critical inputs will be by the players and the referees: if the players play in the correct spirit and the referees do as they are obliged to (referee according to the rule book) then we could have a real game on our hands. I came across this charter when contributing to a celebration of Cumann na mBunscoil in my own county of Mayo. I was struck by the simple but powerful message of the charter. Read it slowly and wonder why the game at senior level seems like a million miles away. - We are playing for enjoyment, to be with our friends and to make new friends. - We promise to try our best to improve our skills, to help our team mates and obey the rules of the game. - We enjoy having older people watch us play. - We ask that they applaud rather than criticise our efforts and the efforts of our opponents. - Remember that we are learning a game that should give us a lifetime of enjoyment. - We may have to risk making mistakes in order to learn. Please, give us that chance. - We thank the referee for giving time to take charge of the game. - We promise to respect the referee's decisions. We ask the older people to do the same. - We promise to respect our opponents. - We shake hands before and after the game. Tweet

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