By John Harrington

Referees have been instructed to red-card any player guilty of committing a deliberate head-high tackle in this year’s All-Ireland Football and Hurling Championships.

In an era when players are bigger, faster, and stronger than ever before, there’s a much greater likelihood that a high-tackle can do considerable damage.

According to GAA’s National Referees Development Committee Chairman, Willie Barrett, that’s why referees have adopted a zero tolerance approach to such dangerous tackles this year.

“Absolutely zero,” said Barrett. “Anything above the shoulders in relation to striking to the head, from the neck up, we’ve instructed our referees clearly, both in hurling and football, to issue a red card for a challenge that’s a deliberate challenge to the head.

“One has to say that in the interests of health and safety for each player, there’s an onus on the referee to ensure that the challenge is fair and there’s a duty of care as well to your opponent.

“Therefore we would suggest that something we need to stamp out is the head high challenge in hurling and football. We need to absolutely stamp it out and we have clearly instructed our referees, for the League and Championship, to do this.”

The mandatory use of helmets with face-guards has made hurling a safer sport.

But the flip side is that the practice of leaving a ‘lazy’ hurley into a tackle at head-height has increased because players are not as wary of causing serious injury.

Barrett is insistent that the relative safety provided by a helmet in no way diminishes the seriousness of a head-high foul in hurling.

“The fact that since the helmet came in, there’s a greater belief within the players that a challenge is a challenge and the helmet is on him so you can’t do much damage,” said Barrett.

“But when a player is making a challenge to the head, the helmet should not be a decision for the referee as to whether or not it is a high challenge. We know he’s wearing a helmet in hurling. That doesn’t minimise the foul.”