A trio of new playing rules for Gaelic football swept through Special Congress yesterday.
There was little debate around the three motions, to the surprise of GAA president John Horan regarding the inside mark in particular, which passed with 69% of the vote.
Motions to introduce a 10-minute sin bin for a black card offence (74%) and for the kickout to be taken from the 20-metre line (83%) were passed more comfortably having been trialled earlier this year.
The new rules will come into effect in four weeks for competitions that haven’t already commenced.
“I thought the debate on that would have been far more comprehensive, probably a little more divisive than it actually was,” said Horan about the inside mark.
“You saw the level of debate. We are where we are. That’s the democracy we have, that’s what we produce. So we have to move on.”
There are concerns about an extra burden being placed on referees though Horan doesn’t believe it will be a factor.
“The three handpass thing earlier in the year, the referees made it known very quickly that they had an issue but there was no clamour from referees over the advanced mark being an issue.
“The number of advanced marks in the League weren’t massive. Maybe that’s because teams didn’t adapt to it because they knew they weren’t going to be using it in the Championship.
“The issue of the sin bin came up in terms of club games and as a matter of a fact, Helen O’Rourke, who sits on our management committee now said that this has been ongoing in ladies football for a considerable while – the use of the sin bin and it hasn’t been an issue.
“I’ve talked to a few referees and they don’t see it as a major difficulty. I think sometimes referees might be hesitant in using the black card and the fact that the fella’s only going for 10 minutes rather than being excluded for the rest of the game actually will allow a greater pplication.”
