There is increasing evidence that the GAA's experimental rules are bringing about a significant reduction in fouling. That's the view of Pat Daly, Croke Park's head of games, who was responding to the first weekend's action in the National Football League.
"I'm pretty certain we're looking at a drop of between a third and a quarter," he says. "We'll be collating the statistics when the referees' reports come in and comparing it with data from last year. Where we have computed figures from the secondary provincial competitions in January (under the abandoned sin bin rule) and a few of last weekend's fixtures, they're showing around 35 fouls per game.
"I suppose the showpiece was Saturday's floodlit match between Mayo and Dublin," he said. "More people would have watched that because there was also rugby and racing on TV on Sunday. There were only 24 frees in the match as opposed to a rough norm of between 45 and 50.
"After the match I was talking to John Prenty (Connacht provincial secretary) whose son was playing and he said normally when he (John junior who debuted at corner forward for Mayo) comes off the field he's black and blue from the drubbing - but that didn't happen at the weekend."
The main provision is the yellow card rule, which sees a player dismissed for the rest of the match but replaced. In the weekend's series of matches 40 players were sent off, all but one for yellow-card offences. Some of the reaction has been hostile but overall Daly feels the message is getting through.
"If a guy is making an effort to play the ball, he won't be in any trouble. A lot of people welcome the move and are beginning to see how it works. Stephen O'Neill (Tyrone's centre forward) said after the Donegal game that there had been far less jersey tugging and body checking than normal."
One of the main talking points was the yellow carding of Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton after he brought down Damien Munnelly and conceded a penalty. Dublin weren't allowed bring on replacement goalkeeper Bryan Murphy until after the next break in play.
"The rule is clear," says Daly. "It was a definite yellow card offence to bring down a player about to score and it's also clear that a replacement can't come on immediately. That was thought out in advance. People said it wasn't fair and that an exception should be made for the goalie. But we don't want 'keepers calculating that they can prevent a goal by fouling and then simply step aside while the replacement goalie takes over."
Despite some of the reactions to the new rules there does look to have been an improvement in discipline. Twelve months ago Dublin's first match in the league was against Tyrone in an encounter which saw 10 yellow cards being administered.
"Cynicism was creeping in," says Daly, "and the good game was becoming an exception rather than the norm but there are signs that that's changing."
Derry assistant manager John Morrison is very critical of the experimental rules, describing them as "ill conceived and totally unnecessary". He added: "These rules could drive players out of the game. Already some of our players are querying their value."
Derry defender Kevin McGuckian was yellow carded after seven minutes. Morrison, one of the most prominent coaches in Ulster, maintains the rules will lead to "tippy-tappy, fear-ridden football" and will detract from the traditional physical nature of the game. "Negativity, sanctions and rules are the order of the association at the moment instead of positivity, rewards and common sense," added Morrison.
Meanwhile, Colm Cooper will miss Kerry's next two league matches. Manager Jack O'Connor said the injury wasn't as serious as feared when Cooper was stretchered off at the end of Friday's match against Cork. "It's a dead leg and he'll be out of commission for a couple of weeks."
The GAA has announced a series of lectures will be held in Croke Park on March 2nd, entitled "Gaelic Games and the GAA - Origins, Personalities and Defining Moments". Speakers will include GAA historian Marcus de Búrca, RTÉ Prime Time reporter Paul Rouse, Noel Kissane (former education officer, National Library of Ireland), Prof Kevin Whelan, (author and director of the Keogh-Notre Dame Centre), JJ Barrett (author of In the Name of the Game) and Dr David Butler of the James Joyce Centre.
Wexford hurler Damien Fitzhenry will miss Saturday's Walsh Cup final against Kilkenny at Wexford Park with a shoulder injury. David O'Connor continues at full back in the absence of the injured Darragh Ryan. Also missing through injury is Declan Ruth.
WEXFORD (SH v Kilkenny): M White; C Kehoe, D O'Connor, K Rossiter; K Kavanagh, D Stamp, D Lyng; E Quigley, M Jacob; N Higgins, W Doran, B Lambert; P Carley, M Jordan, D Mythen.
