In the wake of another classic Dublin-Kerry encounter, former Meath player Bernard Flynn has called for the black card rule to be scrapped immediately.
The rule, which was introduced two years ago after feedback received from a 2012 questionnaire, was brought in to punish players who commit deliberate and cynical fouls.
A study at the end of the 2014 season showed that scores had increased by almost 10% after its introduction.
However, the rule has always had its critics, centred mainly around the inconsistency of application by officials.
But Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final victory for Dublin over Kerry, a match hailed by many as one of the best games in years, saw just one black card flashed, for Dublin’s Cormac Costello in stoppage time.
Speaking on RTE 2fm’s Game On, Flynn said: “The sporting manner in which it was played in was just unbelievable.
“I thought the referee [Meath’s David Gough] tried his best to let it go.
“The Kerry people won’t be too happy with one or two decisions, a few 50-50 calls went against them. I just thought it was something special. You’ve got to take your hats off to them.
“The way he tried to referee that game [was great].
“David Gough... in his mind, he said, 'there’s no black card in my game today'. That’s what made it a great game.
“The way he refereed it was one of the main reasons we got a great game.
“Jarlath Burns [chairman of the Standing Rules Committee] came out this week and I nearly got sick and threw up on top of the paper when I read it, with all due respect, and he said the black card is doing its job – it is not doing its job.
“It has to be got rid of ASAP. Everyone is saying it, managers and players alike. A good referee will use the yellow and red and that’s all you need.
“We want a bit of physicality, we got it yesterday.
"A magnificent game, Gough tried his very best, apart from those two [playing on after fouls on Dublin’s Philly McMahon and Kerry’s Peter Crowley], he’d a great game.
“He did everything he could to say, get rid of the black card and he refereed the game the way it should be refereed."
'David Gough is probably the best referee in the country' - The panel discuss some of the contentious calls https://t.co/pLaTRjdwdz
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) August 28, 2016
Flynn, an All-Ireland winner in 1987 and 1988, also condemned as “scandalous” the reaction of some Kerry fans who threw objects at the whistler, who handed out seven yellow cards during the game, as he left the field.
Defending some of the criticism in July, former Offaly manager Eugene McGee, who was chairman of the Football Review Committee that championed the black card motion, said: "The black card was brought in to stop cynical play like players being dragged down when they were about to score and other things like mouthing at other players and officials.
"The third-man tackle has been largely eliminated and games are now higher-scoring.
“A lot of the managers didn't want it because they had to discipline their players."
