The National Football League is back and so too are the debates surrounding the rules.
But before that Kerry’s Mike Breen was penalised for not handing the ball back to his opponent following a foul which allowed the Rossies to bring the ball forward 50 metres and covert a potentially decisive two-point free.
That decision led to Jack O’Connor taking aim again at the controversial rule in the aftermath saying, “I can’t understand how intelligent men allowed that rule to go through?”
And speaking on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game, Éamonn Fitzmaurice – one of those men on the Football Review Committee that introduced the rule – had his say on the incident.
“I’m not sure if he’s referring to me as an intelligent man there,” joked Fitzmaurice.
“Jack’s point is a fair point. He’s been consistent on it and I’m not going to say I’m disagreeing with him.
“We don’t have to like the rule but we have to get the interpretation right”
Lee Keegan and Éamonn Fitzmaurice discuss the 50m rule for the ball not being handed back to the opposition promptly
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“But the thing about it was it was trialed for a year last year, it came to special congress, there was a vote on it. The first time when it was coming in as a trial 85% of the people in congress voted for it.
“It actually went up to 96.3% the second time around so it was voted overwhelmingly in. The cohort survey that was done at the time, over 90% of people supported the rule as well.
“I absolutely get Jack’s point when that sort of stuff goes on, we saw in the club championships as well, but it does come back to the application of the rule.
“Brendan Cawley is one of the best referees in the country, but he got it wrong, it shouldn’t have been brought up because the ball was slapped out of Mike Breen’s hand, it was brought up the 50 metres, and it could have been crucial.
“But like I said, the support for it in special congress was overwhelming.”
Asked then by Joanne Cantwell if there were many reasons why Roscommon can feel aggrieved, Fitzmaurice continued; “There are Joanne, there are.
“Initially there were a couple of borderline fouls. Then, of course, there was the buzzer beater here from Tomas Kennedy.
“Now when we slowed it down – we had to look at it I don’t know how many times – it’s just left his hand. You can see it there, barely left his hand and the hooters sounds.
“Kerry got the benefit of the doubt there, technically it was the correct call right at the end, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if the free had gone the other way in the first place.”
Asked if the FRC “caved to the outside noise” when deciding to reintroduce the hooter, Fitzmaurice added: “We didn’t.
“Look, there was a lot of points for both sides of that argument. The main ones for the reason that it has finished up the way it has is that number one, time played is the exact time for the game.
“Number two, it’s in the ladies game. Number three, it’s been in New York, in Gaelic Park, for years and it has worked there so it was felt there was a body of evidence there that it worked.
“We saw it today, we saw in the game last year between Westmeath and Meath when it can come down to those fine margins right at the end that it is tight.
Lee Keegan added: “This is week one of the league, first weekend and we have a messy situation.
“Roscommon would feel completely aggrieved because they put on such a brilliant performance to lose out like that.
“Now, I do agree with Eamonn it was the correct call but if this is the case we’re going to have this week in, week out. It’s going to lead to more controversy, more problems, more mess so I don’t like to be Eamonn at the moment anyway.”
