Tommy Walsh has reissued his opposition to any changes to hurling's officiating as the black card is set to be defeated at GAA Congress this weekend.
A Gaelic Players Association report revealed that 89% of players opposed the card's introduction and the general sense is the proposal won't pass after the association asked for delegates to oppose it in line with members' wishes.
Joining Friday's OTB AM, the former Kilkenny hurler argued that, if anything, referees were too diligent on calling fouls.
Describing the past two years as the "greatest hurling years" ever, Walsh explained that while cynical fouling may exist in hurling, it is not plaguing the game.
"The black card came in in the football because they were having issues with the cynical foul and, you know, game-to-game there is always going to be some cynical fouling but if there is nobody really complaining too much about it, why try and solve a problem that's not there?
"Listen, I know people say there is cynical fouling in hurling, but we don't see it as a problem. Like, it doesn't happen too often and really when it does happen there are scores coming off it.
"I don't think it is an issue in hurling so why bring in something that would cause problems more than anything?"
"If there is something broke, try and fix it, yeah, but we have a great game. Everyone is in love with the game, there are more counties at the top of the game then there ever was, what's the point of changing it, I can't see any point."
Put to him that if the black card wasn't fit for the game, maybe an extra on-field official could help referees, Walsh disagreed entirely with the idea.
"I think an extra on-field official would actually cause more issues in the game because if we saw the refereeing last weekend, like, why are people complaining? [Because] there are too many frees.
"I can see it from both sides. The referees point right, every foul that they are blowing is a free, on the other side we want a fast free-flowing game, you can't have it every way.
"We've seen when referees let the game flow, as we say, so they are not calling every single little small foul and then we've seen referees where they call absolutely everything.
"Which game does the majority of the people love watching? Which game does the majority of people love playing? And which game does the majority of people love managing? We all know it's the fast free-flowing hurling."
But what's to be said for when referees can't keep up with the speed of the game and are struggling to make a decision on something that happened 40 yards away? Then should they have help beyond just the umpires and linesman?
"I don't agree with that. I think the problem is they are seeing too much," Walsh laughed.
Unsurprisingly too, Walsh returned to the topic of one of his hurling pet hates: the sending off.
"When are people giving out about referees? It's when they are sending off for something that is kind of innocuous and when there are too many frees and a referee who is keeping up with the play, sure he'll be able to see more?"
"Like, if you go to a rule book technically most of the sending offs are sending offs but I don't think that's what the people want because some of them are mistakes.
"When you use a hurl and use your arms there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you are trying to tackle someone. And they are moving so fast to you, your hurl might hit off somebody, maybe a little high."
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