Shane Elliott – Hurling’s almost perfect. Almost

Though there are one or two small changes that could be made….

Every year in recent times the media coverage at the commencement of the National Hurling and Football leagues is dominated by more rule changes in football.

To be honest as an interested observer it is hard to keep up and to me it is a real pity as the Dublin and Kerry game at the weekend proved that when football is played in the right way there is very little wrong with the existing rules.

To my untrained eye the new rules seemed to add little to the spectacle.

Unfortunately, a change of rules is felt necessary to improve the game from a spectator’s perspective because of the way teams are being coached and set up tactically, often to stifle the opposition.

Such tactics subsequently create low scoring, sterile affairs which can be a hard watch. It’s a tough one, as managers and coaches have every right to do what is best to achieve success and have no obligation whatsoever to provide free flowing entertainment.

Thankfully no such problem exists in hurling where tactically it is much harder to curtail the opposition with numbers behind the ball.

The modern-day player is now very capable at picking off scores from the middle third of the field thereby bypassing any attempt at a blanket defence.

This is evidenced by the consistently high scoring ratios in today’s game with teams regularly topping 20 points and more in a game often with a goal or two thrown in for good measure.

At the weekend in the opening National League fixtures in Division 1A,1B,2A and 2B, the average points per game was 38 (not including goals) which does support the notion that where the rules are concerned in hurling “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. Minor tweaks here and there maybe but overall the consensus of hurling people would be to leave well enough alone.

Having said that I do think an opportunity was missed in not retaining the two points for a score direct from a side-line which was tested and then dropped a couple of years ago. The side-line cut is a skill supporters love to see so I thought awarding two points was a great proposal and I never quite understood why it wasn’t retained.

The definition of the tackle is always a bit of a hot topic with referees not always consistent in their interpretation of the law. On the Sunday Game the debate focused on the use of the free hand in the tackle. The panellists Jackie Tyrell and Donal Og Cusack were poles apart on their views. Cusack was practically calling for the use of the free hand to be outlawed in the tackle whilst I thought Tyrrell was going to use both his free hands to throttle him on the sofa so aghast was he at such a suggestion. It should be said that Tryrrell and defenders like him were masters in the art of the tackle, often on the edge of legality, but I agreed with his analysis. The use of the free hand effectively in the tackle is a skill in itself and it is really up to the referee to spot and punish it when it is being used illegally to drag and pull. It is the dragging and pulling we need to eradicate and, in that respect, the one rule change in the football I think is worth a look at is the use of the black card and the sin bin. We don’t like to think it, but cynicism is alive and well in the small ball game. Personally, I would support use of the sin bin to punish cynical drag downs often used by defenders to stop goal scoring opportunities. A free in is not sufficient punishment in these situations as the offenders often get away with a yellow card whilst the attacking team have lost out on a potential three pointer.

Reflecting on the National leagues what have we learned from week one? Results certainly showed that a gap still exists between the Liam McCarthy and Joe McDonagh teams. Westmeath, Carlow and Laois all shipped heavy defeats to Galway, Clare and Wexford respectively. We can only hope that as they acclimatise to the superior pace and skills of the top counties that their standards will rise, and the gap will start to close.

In Division 2A, Antrim, who aspire to that higher level, got the start they wanted with victory against a dogged Wicklow in bog like conditions in Arklow. Free flowing hurling was not the order of the day but nonetheless for Darren Gleeson it will be a case of job done and onto the next one.

In 2B Derry will be delighted to get off the mark with a three-point victory over local rivals Down whilst Armagh and Tyrone in 3A will have promotion in their sights after defeating Donegal and Louth away from home.

Early days for everyone but there is little time for reflection with the next games this weekend. Very quickly teams will learn if they are destined for a promotion fight or relegation battle. A bit like the rules though there are likely to be no big changes in those teams fighting for honours.