the weasel wrote:Bord na Mona man wrote:manfromdelmonte wrote:and of course Cody (and other Kilkenny officials and backroom staff - eg physical trainer Dempsey) has been in the papers the last few
But no, Cody thinks its a man's game and that games should be let flow. i.e. let a lot of stuff go. which would favour kilkenny's more physical style.
There is one very obvious way of ensuring the 'game is allowed flow' and I'm surprised no one has thought of it yet...
Quite simply - don't bend, stretch and break the rules in the first place.
Then it won't matter what sort of ref there is, the play will flow.
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
But the thing about hurling is that the rules are for interpretation. The rules dont give a breakdown of whats a foul or not. I personally as a player and fan rather the way the refs are awarding frees over the last few years, putting more emphasise on the ball carrier than the tackler. In the past the man with the ball only had to run at the tackler, throw his hands in the air and get a free. Now if he tries to do it he knows he will have to be held or pulled down or actually break the tackle. All of this can be said for football also. Kilkenny win most of the time because they have the best team.
Yes the interpretation of the rules has changed but I think its for the better and I dont think its influenced by Kilkenny.
The rules aren't supposed to be interpreted. It's just that several of them aren't being enforced.
In gaelic games, the ref isn't supposed to have the same scope to apply rules at his own discretion, like a rugby referee does for example. It seems to just happen that way.
In hurling the major problems I see it are ball carriers charging and the tacklers using the spare arm to drag them back. These are clearly illegal in the rule book, with no ambiguity, or interpretation needed.
I think it needs to be at least discussed at official level rather than just have it shouted down by 'let the game flow' blarney merchants. If the consensus is that spare arm wrestling should become a legitimate tackle in hurling, then write it into the rulebook, or else decide to penalise it. Don't just ignore it.
All said, Barry Kelly did a great job yesterday. Thankfully he ignored the pre-match attempts to railroad him and wasn't afraid to penalise fouls. And the game did flow. Both teams quickly realised it wasn't going to descend to pro-wrestling and got on with the hurling.
And give the players credit. Most of them would prefer to win games with the skills they learned hitting the ball off the gable end wall, rather than through gym and tackle bag sessions.
The current issues in hurling have been caused by poor officialdom and opportunistic coaching, rather than players setting out to spoil at their own behest.