The GAA’s Central Council will implement tougher measures to ensure that suspended team officials have as little contact with their teams on match day.
Acting on advice from the Games Administration Committee, a statement from Central Council stated that "where a team manager or official is under suspension, he shall not be allowed to play any part in team affairs on a match day."
Suspended officials will be seated in the stand but not in the proximity of the team’s dugout. The official will also be excluded from the pitch enclosure, dressing-room and dressing room area.
The statement also stated that: "a suspended team official can not act as a spokesman for the team or engage in media interviews on behalf of the team while under suspension."
Central Council have also paved the way for a standby linesman to act as an official timekeeper in all inter-county championship matches. The official will control an electronic board indicating the amount of injury / extra-time to be played in a match.
The extra official will also monitor and police a new substitution zone, passed by Special Congress last October, on the halfway line.
The standby linesman will control all procedures dealing with the new blood rule. A motion to introduce "blood substitutes" was passed at Special Congress. This procedure facilitates the GAA to allow temporary replacements for players who need medical attention for blood related injuries.
Meanwhile, four inter-county players who were suspended have been reinstated. The players are Padraig McShane (Monaghan), Oliver Dowling (Laois), Seamus Durcan (Roscommon) and 1997 All-Ireland medal winner William Kirby of Kerry.
A request for the reinstatement of Sligo’s Paul Durcan was refused while a similar demand for Barry Sheridan of Meath has been referred to the next meeting of the Management Committee.