Armagh’s Ciaran McKeever had some pretty strong stuff to say about the black card

The news that the black card will be introduced in Gaelic Football didn’t go down well with quite a lot of people in the game, but few have been as vociferous in their reaction as Armagh’s Ciaran McKeever.

Delegates at the GAA Congress in Derry at the weekend voted in favour of the measure that is designed to put an end to cynical fouling in Gaelic Football and will be introduced at the start of next year.

While the decision was welcomed by many in the game, there were a few current players and managers who voiced their opposition to its introduction, particularly Louth manager and Armagh native Aidan O’Rourke, who tweeted that it was a “victory for the meddlers and the little to be ats who never coach” and added: “The game has been sanitised into a parody of itself”.

Strong though they were, O’Rourke’s comments pale into comparison to the thoughts of his fellow county man Ciaran McKeever, who gave the following response when quizzed about the black card by The Irish News.

"I think this black card is going to be worse than people realise," he said.

"If they don't review it, people will go to different codes, nobody will go to Gaelic football games, and the GAA will be dead in five years. It will kill club football because emigration is already killing clubs.

"It will introduce an element of cheating into the game. Young people will go and play rugby. People go to Gaelic football because there is a physical element in it, and now they're taking that out of it."

"It is going to be worse at club level because the referee is there by himself (to implement the rules),” he added.

“Secondly, clubs are already struggling with emigration; some clubs only have 18 or 19 players. What happens if you go into your third or four black card and you've no subs.

"Some of these boys (Congress delegates) haven't looked at the bigger picture and they've talked themselves into believing the black card is a good idea."

McKeever made some decent points about the possible implications of the black card and we won’t know until next year whether he is proved correct but saying the GAA will be dead in five years is just a little apocalyptic to say the least.

He isn’t the first to venture forth his opinion on the matter, however and you can absolutely guarantee that he won’t be the last either.