Paul Earley believes the number offences meriting black cards should be increased and that punishments should be more severe.

As a member of the Football Review Committee, Earley was one of those who pioneered the introduction of the controversial third card. He says it has been successful in terms of eliminating cynical play but would like to see more offences covered by the sanction. And with harsher penalties:

"There's been an improvement in the third-man tackle, which was a blight on the game at the time," he says in The Irish Times. "I would like to see all jersey tugging and pulling back being subject to the black card rather than specifically 'pulling down' an opponent deliberately. It would add some consistency to the current situation.

 "There seems to be a mentality of giving away the free but getting a good belt in as well. In terms of the pull-downs the black card may need tweaking. We see pull-downs like Ciarán Kilkenny's at the end of Dublin-Kerry - using him as an example; we see many of those, as the reality is players are taking one for the team because they're not getting punished.

 "I have suggested that the limit of three blacks in a season meriting a one-match suspension could be reduced to two and that might change behaviour. If the penalty isn't serious enough you won't change behaviour. In relation to a black card in the last few minutes when a team is on top, a player is willing to take it. The thought that one more could result in missing an important match might colour people's thinking."

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