Paraic Duffy says disciplinary committees are "far more likely" to enforce the GAA's new ruling regarding derogatory comments from managers.

As of next year, team officials who "make derogatory comments in relation to a match official before a game or in interviews subsequent to a game" will be issued with a sideline ban. According to Duffy, this is a more modest sanction than the one it supersedes and, as such, is more likely to be applied:

"It's been a feeling for a long time that disciplinary committees are very reluctant to address the issue of derogatory comments because under match regulations the punishment is dealt with under the rule on 'discrediting the association' and the minimum penalty is eight weeks," said the director-general in The Irish Times.

"As a result there was a great reluctance to take on the issue of derogatory comments. My personal view is that this is a much better way of dealing with it and I'd expect committees to be far more inclined to take action when the penalty is simply to put people into the stands. I think it's far more likely there'd be action taken now and much less of a tolerance."

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