Back in your Box

I didn't see last night's U21 Munster Hurling Final, but I awoke this morning exasperated to hear of yet another incident which will sully the good name of our national games, its participants and its supporters. Ugly scenes, apparently, followed the awarding of a 65m free to Tipperary following the Clare goalkeeper having taken a puck out from outside the small rectangle. To compound the issue further, it seems that the referee had not spotted the infraction, nor had he seen the umpire's attempt to draw attention to it, thus allowing play to continue, leading to the award of a 20m free to Clare at the opposite end of the pitch. When his attention was drawn to the pedantic umpire the referee cancelled the 20m free and awarded the controversial 65m free, leading to anger, protest and a Garda escort for the white coated official at the centre of the commotion. This, I should add, happened in the 4th minute (out of 5!) of injury time. While the match was level!

I'll admit again that I didn't see the match, so its possible that some of the above facts are incorrect. Even, however, if they are we can consider the situation hypothetical, accepting that it's not entirely unlikely for such an event to take place in a game of hurling. It's important, very much so, because of the issues it raises.

Firstly, how did play continue after the puck out? Surely the umpire must have spotted the violation of the technical rules immediately. Did he then signal immediately, or did he delay? Did the referee check to see if there was a signal from the umpire while the ball was in flight? If this is a rule that the officials intend to enforce then why did they not have a system in place to allow play to be stopped immediately without it proceeding to the point where the offending goalkeeper's teammate is awarded a free in front of their opponent's goal. This is a relatively minor point, though, in the overall scheme of things.

Of much greater importance is the enforcement of this rule at all. A rule book can only tell you so many things, and it is certain that a visitor from another planet (or, say, England) who has not before seen the game played would not be much the wiser about the game following a perusal of the official set of rules. The game has a distinctive culture, much like football, and much, much different to any of the other games temporarily taking residence in head quarters. A central part of this undocumented culture is the fuzzy interpretation of the lines on the pitch. In soccer, any player taking a throw in cannot have his feet inside the sideline. If he does, then it's automatically a foul throw, and his opponents are awarded the throw. Clear. Simple. Unambiguous. In rugby, any player within 10m of a penalty taker who attempts to interfere in play is penalised. In both football and hurling, there's a plethora of unwritten allowances made for players participating in set play. Firstly, although the rules of the game state that a player on the team awarded a side-line puck shall place the ball on the side-line at the place indicated by the linesman, it is generally allowed, actually always allowed, for the player to move the ball a few feet in from the sideline to a nicer clump of grass, or whatever. Similarly for frees, and most obviously for 65m frees (this makes me wonder, did the Tipperary player last night take the 65m free from exactly 65m - I must look out for reruns on TG4/Setanta). All this despite the rule (4.25) that clearly states that it is a technical foul to advance the ball deliberately from the place at which a free puck or side-line puck is to be taken - to be penalised by the cancelling of the previous award, to be replaced by a throw in.

These are elements of the game which are unwritten but known. Gaelic Games, being as they are games played (to any substantial level) only in our own country can have a culture like this, where it is known and shared without legal speak. International games such as soccer and rugby, sprawling the globe into heterogeneous countries, societies and cultures, perhaps require more exact definitions. Even our own invention, International Rules, suffered the fate of a culture clash. The culture of football which recognises the place of a sly-dig met with the antipodean sledging culture, and resulted in a resounding defeat for our lads. In many, many ways. The question is this, however, for how long do we allow this tacit knowledge govern our games, before we either choose to document the unofficial rules, or enforce the official version.

It appears to me that the GAA, or at least some officials, have taken a step towards enforcement, but tragically selected the puck out as the guinea pig. Like sideline pucks and frees, it is generally accepted that you can be afforded a foot or two in your interpretation of where the line actually is. For the puck out the line of interest is the outer boundary of the small rectangle. What makes the selection of this rule for enforcement so utterly harsh is the fact that the punishment for violation is so draconian. For stepping outside the small rectangle when taking a puck out, giving yourself a negligible advantage, especially when compared to the advantage a goalkeeper gets by coming off the goal line at penalty time, you are penalised through the award of a free to your opponents in front of your goal, well within the range of any free taker worth his salt. If the other rules were to be interpreted fully, a player seeking an advantage when taking a 65m free would be punished only by having the ball thrown in, but ask yourself, which is the greater crime?

Thus, my third issue is with the penalty for the sneaky (or accidental!) ground gain at a puck out. My suggestion would be that if it is decided to enforce this rule then the penalty should be the awarding of a puck out to the opposing team. For any decent sized puck out, the ball should nearly be at the other end of the pitch already, so there wouldn't be much delay, and there certainly wouldn't be too much argument. But for crying out loud, giving the opposition a direct shot at goal for such a minor violation. Terrifying.

Is it time, I wonder, for all rules to be fully enforced. Technical issues such as the role of lines etc. could easily be cases of strict liability. It's easy to see if a ball is on a line or not when a free is being taken. It's easy to see if a goalkeeper has left his small rectangle. It's easy to see if a goal keeper is on his line. It's also possible, though less easy, to see whether a player is within 13m or 20m of a free taker. Should we continue with our culture of fuzzy rules, or should we move to strict interpretation. I'm happy enough with how it is at the moment, but if we are to keep it such, it must be for all rules. All the time.