Why do refs never blow up for this,example when a player has the ball he pushes the opposition player away places his hand in his face or lashes out at them.it happens in every match I think it should be cracked down on, if it was the defender doing what the attacking player does it would be a free without question.

meath4sam (Meath) - Posts: 69 - 20/04/2014 12:38:44    1577570

I've seen a free given against the man with the ball recently, when he proved to have superior upper body strength in comparison to the man tackling him.

He easily brushed off the tackle and kept running, only for the Ref to blow it up against him. I felt the player tackling him should have been booked, but it was one of those strange ones by the referee.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 20/04/2014 12:44:24    1577573

MDMA used to always very obviously hand players off when going by them. Referees then started to call him regularily on it 2010/2011 and he had to stop it.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 20/04/2014 12:51:41    1577579

This is my big pet peeve in the game at the moment. Barging, hand-offs and over-carrying. If there is an art to defending I just don't see how it's possible with the way games are being officiated right now.

And the worst thing is we could all name the worst perpetrators in every side. Some are worse than others. The likes of McFadden, O'Gara and Tomas O'Connor among plenty of others just hand off as a reflex. MacAuley might have cut out the hand offs but he still barges directly into players on the run. Every team deliberately runs interference when passing outside to players on the loop which is blatantly illegal and a big thing the Aussies give out about in compromise rules as they do it in AFL but apparently it's not a part of our games even though it goes on every week club and county. Over-carrying is not a recent widespread development in the same way as the others and referees will always do well to catch it a few times a game with everything else going on but nevertheless there's nothing more frustrating as a defender to wait for a bounce/sole to put in your tackle and it never comes.

This is easily as big a factor in the higher scoring rates as anything to do with the black card.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 21/04/2014 11:47:46    1577946

Yes its definitely an issue but unfortunately it is not caught by refs to the point where teams encourage and even train the use of the other hand to be an advantage.

I'm from a hurling background and the action is now considered a big advantage. When tackling players are encouraged to swing a closed/open hand at the ball carrier, trying to generate enough force to dispose him or at least make him stop his run because any swing with the hurl or even the sound of two hurls clashing is a free.

crossfieldball (Galway) - Posts: 650 - 22/04/2014 17:19:17    1578640

I have to agree with you Doublehop about the steps. I think it's time they tackled this rule big time. 4 steps has become 7 steps without fail. It is totally unfair on defenders but just because the steps are short and fast it goes unpunished. Even change the rule to 6 steps which should be about 2 seconds max at speed, and stick to the rule.

mucker2b (Cork) - Posts: 8 - 22/04/2014 19:57:28    1578737

My god every complaint on here comes back to a Dublin player or about Dublin I don't think I can take much more of this.

clondalkindub (Dublin) - Posts: 9926 - 22/04/2014 20:49:28    1578755

Taking too many steps is a huge issue.

It gives the player in possession a huge advantage.

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 23/04/2014 09:52:20    1578817

Another foul is where a player grabs another player, gives a short tug back and then releases, this happened a number of times in the Cavan v Dubs match. The ref never blows for it!

fifty (Mayo) - Posts: 108 - 23/04/2014 11:15:26    1578887

Problem with steps is that Refs don't count 1,2,3,4 1,2,3, 1,2, 1,2,3 etc when a player moves with ball in hand. You can try as I did as a beginner ref but you just can't keep doing it in your head so you adopt the policy "if the ball has been in his hand longer than it would take to move 4 steps blow" or "if it looks like he's taken more than 4 blow".

Big issue is a player takes 2-3 steps meets contact and the ref turns his/her attention to the "tackle" and the players then gets away with a further 2-3 after contact. Same with a player bearing down on goal and defenders closing in, the ref is looking at the tacklers waiting for the professional fouls and not playing attention to the steps been taken.

crossfieldball (Galway) - Posts: 650 - 23/04/2014 15:49:49    1579127

You get in hurling also and particularly so with the Clare players. Davy's tactics are based on speed of movement. In order for his players to build up a head of steam they need to take extra steps. They are moving so fast that refs haven't copped on to it YET!

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 23/04/2014 18:09:43    1579217

I also think the screen or pick as in basketball has crept into the game too. Refs dont see it often as they are following the player with the ball and it usually happens to a defender chasing him.
See the explanation here: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-set-a-screen-in-basketball

Dubfan Abroad (Dublin) - Posts: 282 - 23/04/2014 18:35:41    1579224