O'Neill lays it on the line: Time for GAA to address cynical fouling

GAA president Liam O’Neill has emphasised the need for the association to address cynical fouling. Next month’s annual congress in Derry will debate proposals from the Football Review Committee, including the introduction of black-card offences, which will lead to players having to leave the field and be replaced.

“Red card offences are still red card offences. Yellow card offences are still yellow card offences. All the FRC as I understand it have altered are three yellow card offences are now sufficiently serious to merit you leave the field and be replaced by somebody else.

“They are the deliberate pulling down of an opponent and the word ‘deliberate’ is terribly important in this.

“If somebody deliberately trips a player, which is a lousy foul, nobody will have any sympathy for them having to leave the field. That’s a foul we want to eradicate. The third one is a player passes the ball and I deliberately then take him out of it and then I suffer the consequences of that and am replaced. They’re the only changes.

“Our whole attempt to eradicate abuse of every sort from the game hinges on the black card offence where any insulting gesture or words from an opponent would be deemed to merit leaving the field and being replaced.”

He added however that he believed racist abuse should be punishable by a red card.