Changes, but could we just implement the rules for once The new football season has arrived and if we are truthful, it could not come soon enough. The Gael prefers his Sundays to follow a certain pattern: mass, the dinner, the match, a few scoops and back to the homestead in time to watch the lads on The Sunday Game. He is a simple creature and the closed season does not sit well with him. And so, a few weeks ago, if not quite roaring back into life, the teams announced their rebirth in a whisper and the Gael took to the fields and roads of Ireland. The provincial leagues will pass the month of January and provide the talking points of team selections, new managers, floodlit games and the opening of the national leagues. And it is of course the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the association and all will await the various spectacles that are planned. But it appears that no mater what approach the GAA take to the many challenges that present themselves in any given year, there are the hurlers on the ditch ready to fire the shots. Perhaps I am included in that gang but the hope must be that sensible criticism drives the analysis and it does not descend into mouthing just because it's a GAA initiative. Word is out already on the cost of the fireworks display that is planned for the opening night of the NFL which will double as the curtain for the 125 celebrations. Rumoured to be close to E500,000 many believe it is money wasted in these recessionary times, or any type of times for that matter. Me? It's a once-off, we are a major association and it is a major milestone-build a bridge and get over it. But the two footballing matters that dominate the opening days of the year are of much greater importance. County football managers all over the country, especially those appointed towards the end of 2008, are annoyed with the closed season, and point to a single month to get the troops fighting fit for what is nowadays a most competitive national league series of games. Of course they have a point, but the burnout issue is much more important than a slow start to the early part of the season. The principle of closing down and giving everybody involved - players, managers, officials and followers, a break leads to recharged batteries and the enthusiasm to get stuck into a new year. I accept the colleges, the source of much of the burnout it might be argued, will produce far fitter and better prepared teams in the short-term because the restriction does not apply to them. So what? The provincial competitions are used as glorified trail matches for the most part and all will arrive at the objectives in good fettle. The colleges will be ready for Sigerson and the counties ready for the leagues - everybody is a winner here. The matter of greatest concern remains the rules governing our games and the discipline matters that arise as a result of these rules being broken. Readers will know my stance on the matter of foul play - it must be removed and I agree with Liam O'Neill and his committee that something needed to be done. The game of football has presented opportunities for cynical play and the disciplinary code in use to prosecute offenders is more or less in disrepute. Let me make a bold but absolutely true statement: we would not be looking at a set of new rules if the referees applied the rules that are already in the Official Guide. I will argue with any interested party that we have a smashing set of rules if only the refs had the courage to enforce them. They do not display the courage of their convictions because they want to be all things to all men. How often have you heard a ref lament he had to send a player off and it upset the balance of the game? Hello - the man in black is there to apply the rules and keep the field of play safe for all the players. The new rules, particularly the 'Highly Disruptive Fouls' are a simple categorising of fouls that make it clear to the referee and all in attendance that they must take action and cannot escape their responsibilities. But already we are reading and hearing of officials being thankful that 'common sense' (that most elusive and anything but common of senses) is being applied, that where the 'intent' was obviously not to foul the ref has obliged and so on. Now the referee must become a mind-reader and figure out intent. He must be qualified in short-hand in order to take the telephone directory type lists of aggressors that he will come across and now that HQ tells us there are more scores, he might as well keep the pencil and the book poised at all times. Indeed, word that there are less fouls and more 'time-in-play' is to be welcomed but until I see empirical proof of the latter I beg to differ. The games I have attended are being stopped every few minutes for bookings and this certainly is soaking up game time. News that yellow cards are now to be cumulative and will result in match suspensions is a new take on some rule that I simply cannot find in the 2008 Guide. We have always been told that the accounting department in the GAA would never be able to track these cards but all of a sudden a database has been developed. It might take away some of the goodwill that appears to be on offer from the playing side - it was okay being 'sent-off' on a yellow but being replaced took the sting out of it. If suspensions are now to apply, expect less cooperation. But I want to finish on the rule change that takes the biscuit. Cast your mind back to the Aidan O'Mahony collapse after a sniper's bullet appeared to hit him during the 2008 All Ireland series. The footballing public rushed to condemn his effort. HQ spoke of looking at the rules to see how they might be tightened up. Let me remind all that Rule 5.20 (Football) already existed and demanded a referee issue a YELLOW card if a player was 'to attempt to gain an advantage by feigning a foul or injury'. My own opinion is that a RED card should be issued. The new rules just issued, in experimental mode of course, state Rule 5.20 exactly as above but instruct the referee to issue a BLACK card! I guess that deals with that matter then . Tweet

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