Harte: bin the black card right now

August 02, 2016

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte says it is time for the GAA to get rid of the black card for once and for all.

The third card has caused more problems than it has solved and Harte was very much on the receiving end when two of his players - Mattie Donnelly and Cathal McShane - were wrongly black-carded approaching half time in the Ulster SFC final against Donegal:

"I would bin it right now," the three-times All-Ireland winning boss states in The Irish Daily Star. "I'm not saying that there are not certain instances where it has not helped. There is less deliberate bodychecking, but a yellow card would have dealt with that as well.

"It is very disconcerting to see that people could lose out on such a big day and your team could lose out as well. We were fortunate that players did not lose their Ulster medals over it.

"Those decisions could be very hurtful for a player and they could lose something very special in their career over it. It is something that does need attending to.

"I don't have to tell you again that I was never an advocate of the black card anyway. I might never sound like I am sympathetic to referees, but I do understand the difficulty of what they have to do in live time. Why add another dimension of difficulty, when what attracts a black card now was always a yellow card material anyway?

"That so many of them are being challenged means there is such a variable interpretation of what is a black card and what is not. It shows the folly of not field-testing these things."


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