The new season is but seven days of age and already the followers are talking. Worse than that, the managers and the players are lending a voice. Who in the name of God was on this New Rules Committee? Ex-players and managers? Just goes to show you how astute our administrators can be - when a bit of heat is to be generated why not populate the review group with the very experts that might decry it? Now, if only the supporters could form an official association they could get a representative from there also! I have only witnessed one game played under the new rules and must admit it caused little confusion, no sin binnings and everybody just got on with it. Of course there would be no need for any of the recent additions to the rulebook if referees, linesmen and their umpires enforced the rules as they stood pre 2005. That essentially is the reason for this latest attempt to tidy up areas few can be satisfied with. The reality is referees were not anxious to send players off and when you start from that baseline the natural follow on is reticence with the yellows as they lead inexorably to the red card. Take the pick up for example: players going down on the ball to execute the legal lift knew full well that a stray boot was very often the challenge faced. How often have you heard managers shout in to their players 'Bend your back and get the foul'? Then you have the third man tackle or taking the passer out of the one-two pass. In soccer parlance this is called the wall pass where the man passing gives a simple give and go pass in the belief he will get it back when the opponent in the middle is bypassed. In GAA this practice is a recent enough development whereby the passer was blocked, hindered and very often 'taken out'. Referees often let this go in an effort to keep the play moving but it meant the extra man was not allowed join the attack. This leads to a deep sense of frustration and very often the aggrieved player sorted matters out when next be met up with the blocker. Tackles that should be straight yellow cards (jersey pulling, tackling with the fist, tripping, heavy charging, etc) became ticking offences and thus you could get away with a minimum of three of these offences in any game. Indeed, you often got away with twice as many as that if the time gap between the offences is big. I have alluded to the question of tactical fouling in the past where players share the burden of the illegal tackling and managers get their forwards to foul away from home, where referees do not judge this offence as harshly as they might when it is close to the scoring goals. Maybe it is human nature but that still does not make it legal, correct or acceptable. Not allowing linesmen aid the referee with judgement calls was just plain silly anyway and having a limited role for umpires only adds to the sense of annoyance players often feel. So, one ended up with the referee and his style getting more analysis pre match than the actual rules and art of tackling itself. Now there is a sad state of affairs - officials that are known to ref it like they played it, strict on technical matters but allowing a beheading without a second thought! The professional game of soccer is usually ahead of Gaelic Games when it comes to new innovations. Think of the red and yellow cards, the assistance of the linesmen (assistant referees actually and the nomenclature is important here), the buzzer built into the flag, the idea of the professional foul being a red card offence, extra substitutions and so on. Association football has always been to the forefront in trying out new rules in an attempt to put a stop to those players who continually attempt to play outside the rules. It took the GAA some time to implement the best ideas coming from that sport but we get there eventually. Have you wondered recently why it is soccer does not have a sin bin? Because there is no need for it when officials implement the rules as they are stated in the rulebook - so I have squared our circle. Many, if not most, of the new rules are because we like grey areas in our games, we like controversy and after match debates. It is part of what we are and I notice this week that managers are now referring to sin binning as 'sending offs'. In an attempt to win public support, they are pointing out the confusion inherent in the tackle as defined in GAA. This is always the last resort because if you stand back from this argument for a moment, get yourself a copy of the rules and actually look up the definition used for our tackle you might be surprised. We have in fact the best-defined tackle in any field game I know. The tackle is on the BALL, not the man. How clearer can it be? The difficulty is when players go outside this simple definition and start tackling the man by pulling, dragging, tripping, charging, elbowing, kicking and sometimes with the closed fist. By the way, it must always be the open hand, but again, that got lost somewhere in translation. So what we need are better officials, officials brave and knowledgeable enough to enforce the rules as they are laid out. After that we can park the idea of the sin bin. Better option altogether might be a Recycling Centre, where some of the hatchet men of old can be put through some process where they emerge as ball playing enthusiasts. Still, it looks like the pick up off the ground is here to stay and while I am neutral enough about the change I still feel it is part of a drive to dumb down the art, remove yet another skill from the game. Soon enough we will have the call for the Compromise Rules tackle and then we might as well call it rugby and we can compete against plenty of nations on the international front. Games that are attractive to the public follow a very basic template. Scores, Speed, Skill and the mix of all three will lead only to one thing - a spectacle. Properly refereed, this is the type of action any spectator will pay good money to see. By dumbing down the skill input to make elite games more accessible to those who do not practise hard at the fundamental requirements is a little like asking tennis to remove the net so more players can progress to a higher level. And while I am at it - why is two points awarded for a sideline cut in hurling that sails over the bar when only one is given for the execution of its football counterpart? Have a look at the statistics - more sidelines cuts are scored in hurling than sideline kicks in football, so which skill is the more difficult to perform? Is one to assume that a Maurice Fitzgerald bender from under a dug out that sails true between the posts is now rated as an inferior achievement to our hurling brethren? Obviously. Despite some of my reservations, I am in favour of rules that reward the skilful and remove the fouler. The problem so far appears to be where honest, fair and clean players who have always played football with spirit and passion are suffering because some of the offences listed are leading to yellow cards and the sin bin. At a time when far too much praise and poison is directed at team managers, this new rule in particular will confer a status on them that only increases the comment. Now, the manager will assume the role of a basketball coach with his chalkboard on the sideline as he outlines to a sub how he wants the extra man, two men, three men and possibly four men used! We will wait until the Leagues are over before giving final judgement but at the moment the conspiracy theorists are everywhere - this is designed to screw up Ulster, get more average players involved, make it simple for the refs and so on - and they will not be satisfied if matters remain the same. Time will tell. Tweet

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