Former Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice has said that the yellow card is a weapon that must be readily utilised to clamp down on diving in football.
The RTÉ Sport analyst was reacting to a number of high-profile incidents over the opening weeks of the Allianz Football League where players were accused of exaggerating impacts from opposing players, with Galway captain Seán Kelly and Roscommon attacker Conor Cox attracting the ire of opposing fans at the weekend.
Rule 5.4 of the GAA rulebook says that yellow card can be awarded for any "attempt to achieve an advantage by feigning a foul or injury" - and speaking to the RTÉ GAA Podcast, Fitzmaurice said that he hopes referees take full advantage of that power.
"Last year in fairness to David Gough, the game above in the Athletic Grounds between Armagh and Tyrone; the scenes were almost a bit farcical on the day but we had very few melees after that last year because the referee implemented the rules strictly.
"It kind of stamped it out for the most part. I know there was argy-bargy above in Donegal [against Armagh], maybe the one in Croke Park [Galway v Armagh] but it wasn't as prevalent maybe as it had become.
"Maybe it’s going to take that, it’s going to take players getting yellow cards or if a fella’s on a yellow card already and he gets the road for diving, it’ll fairly stamp it out pretty fast."
Fitzmaurice believes that players need to start showing a bit more respect for their opponents and ignore the temptation to do whatever it takes to come out on top.
"I don’t think any of us want to see diving creeping into our sport and it’s something that I think we’ll have to be hard on," he said.
"There are two types of a dive. There’s a type of a dive where a player is in possession and they go to ground easily looking for a free. You definitely don’t want to see that in the game but it’s probably not as serious as the other one.
"Someone going to ground to get someone sent off, I definitely wouldn't be a fan of that and I think most GAA people wouldn’t.
"Of course, at the top level there is the 'win at all costs’ mentality but I think there has to be that bit of respect for each other as well.
Are we seeing more diving/simulation/players going to ground too easily since the league resumed? pic.twitter.com/HEs1GsTAOE
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) March 5, 2023
"You’d hate to see fellas going down unnecessarily, it’s taking the cynicism to another level altogether."
Trial by social media is a dangerous courtroom setting, but Fitzmaurice believes that the online negative reaction may not be a bad thing in this case.
"There’s no harm to see that there is this bit of a push back from people with regards to it. Maybe that bit of noise around it might help the situation," he added.
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