IN ONE of his final acts as GAA president, Nickey Brennan has urged Congress to support the new yellow-card rules. Congress is just over two weeks away, taking place in Cork on April 17/18th, and while the yellow-card rules have been in operation on an experimental basis since the start of the year, an increasing number of county managers have come out against them.

At this stage it appears unlikely they will receive the two-thirds majority at Congress necessary to bring them into rule, although Brennan wasn't so sure.

"I would strongly urge people to vote these rules in," he said.

"I think we will have better games, more enjoyable games. I'm not denying there are still areas there we need to keep focusing on, but we will have a better set of games that will yield better dividends for the association in the future if we accept these rules.

"And I'm not so sure they are losing support. I think all the effort we made over the last number of months to explain what the rules are about has been significant, bringing people up to speed, and I believe the rules have settled in pretty well.

"So we have a very clear decision to make coming up to Congress. Do we want a set of games, hurling and football, where we allow cynical fouls, we allow tripping, and we allow pulling guys around the neck? Or do we want to clean that up once and for all, and make the games that bit more enjoyable, where the skilful player can display the full array of skills."

Brennan also disagreed with the notion that the rules would take the physicality out of the games.

The motions proposing the adoption of the rules will be separately numbered at congress, allowing delegates to support some, none, or all of the measures against the newly designated "highly disruptive fouls", which currently result in the offending playing being sent-off on a yellow card, but replaced by another player from the substitutes bench.

"I'm conscious that getting a two-thirds majority is a challenge for any change," added Brennan. "But I believe people have to reflect on where they want our games to go, and I think a decision to reject these proposals won't be good for the Association.

"I think that will be proven during the summer if they are rejected, because we have seen far more enjoyable games since the experimental rules came in, and I think we will get better in terms of referee consistency and interpretation. I accept that's a work in progress but I believe it will settle down a lot more during the championship.

"I think presenting them as separate motions will help. We felt that putting them in as the one package would have been too easy to throw out. Now they can look at these motions and decide whether they consider these disruptive fouls. If people say they don't want to support them then they'll have to answer during the summer as to why. They will have to stand up and be counted."

The issue of discipline on the playing field, and how those issues are dealt with off the field, became one of the critical topics during Brennan's three-year term as president, which comes to an end at Congress. He was keen to separate the two, and while he would be disappointed if the yellow-card experiment fails, he feels the GAA's disciplinary process as a whole is working well.

"The disciplinary process is a separate issue. If you look back at last year, take out the three or four high-profile cases, it was a very good year. Ask the provinces and ask the counties how well this process works and they will give it a major thumbs up. I know Páraic Duffy has said there may be a layer too many and I can't disagree.

"But as for the experimental rules, of course I will go with what the association decides. If it decides it wants games with that cynicism and bad fouling then fine. But they aren't the games I would like.

"So, yes, I would be disappointed. But that would be democracy in the association, so at the end of the day while I mightn't like it I will certainly accept it."

Another matter coming before Congress is the Clare motion proposing Central Council be given the permanent right to decide when to allow other sports to be played in Croke Park. While Brennan is open to the debate, he feels it is perhaps a year too soon.

"Whatever comes to us we will take it, but I just think it's a year too soon. We're still in the middle of the existing arrangement, which won't finish up until the middle of next year.

"So I think we should get through that phase first and then make a decision, if such is the case. But if Clare want to make the case for it this year it's up to them."