THE new mark rule will be self-defeating, according to Tyrone manager Mickey Harte.
He hit out at what he called "tinkering" with the rules of the game and predicted that none of the stated objectives - principally high fielding - will be achieved. The mark’s introduction to Gaelic football was given the go-ahead at the annual congress in Carlow last weekend.
Harte warned that untidy, broken play around midfield will continue to be a problem under the new regulation: “I’m disappointed at all the tinkering that’s going on with our games and the idea that you have to introduce this mark and the theory being that it’s going to increase the percentage of high fielding, yet you’ll still be able to kick the ball out short anyway,” he said.
“So how is that going to increase high fielding and why would you let someone field in that area where they can get a free-kick if they do catch it clean?”
Indeed, he fears that loose ball will be even more prevalent than at present: “Sure there’s going to be more break ball, it’s going to be messier around the middle of the field,” Harte added.
Harte claimed those who designed the mark rule and the delegates who supported it at congress have failed to consider the possible implications: “It has not been trialled or anything else, so there’s a lot of fine detail that we don’t know.
“How would it increase the high fielding if you catch a ball on the chest if it goes on the full from a kick-out? How is that going to increase high fielding? There’s going to be decisions about had the player one foot inside the 45 and the other outside it whenever he caught the ball? So is it in or is it out? There’s loads of variables that are not even considered in this. Referees have enough do deal with and now they’re going to give them more to deal with.”
And the Tyrone boss is particularly disappointed the mark is to be introduced in mainstream competition without being trialled in pre-season competitions such as the Dr McKenna and O’Byrne cups: “That’s the fairest thing to do with any of these things, to trial it and see and I think it wouldn’t be long in the trial til you’d know we don’t need it,” he said.
The motion won 68 per cent of the vote, narrowly gaining the necessary two-thirds majority. Motion 41, brought to congress by the standing committee on playing rules, will see the following rule introduced: “When a player catches the ball cleanly from a kick-out without it touching the ground, on or past the 45m line nearest the kick-out point, he shall be awarded a mark by the referee. The player awarded a mark shall have the options of (a) taking a free-kick or (b) playing on immediately."
