No, says Donnchadh Boyle
The black card was introduced to football after probably the most extensive consultation process with various stakeholders undertaken in the history of the Association, but that doesn't mean it is needed in hurling or that it will work.
Part of the problem in football stems from how it was refereed. Slowly things like body-checking became the norm, and the black card was brought in to deal with problems that had developed over a number of seasons and across several teams.
Hurling is much different. While there are examples of cynical play, it has yet to become part of the furniture as it was in football. It's not that hurlers are less likely to commit such acts or that managers are reluctant to bend the rules, it's just much harder to employ such tactics when the ball moves at such pace and can travel from one end of the field to another in a couple of seconds and scores can be taken from great distance.
Using the new interpretation of penalty regulations as a crutch to prop up the argument for the introduction of a black card doesn't wash either.
Admittedly, penalties are harder to score now, with the ball having to be struck from the 20-metre line, so defenders might take their chances and concede them a la Cillian Buckley last weekend. The Kilkenny man decided hauling Jonathan Glynn down was a better option than letting him get his shot away as he bore down on goal.
There's a simple solution to that that does not require major change.
Either bring the penalty spot in closer or reduce numbers on the line to give the attacking team a better chance of finding the net. That way, conceding a penalty wouldn't be as attractive as it is now and that should sort that argument without the introduction of any new set of rules.
Secondly, there are the practicalities of it. Would any such motion get through?
Not a chance. It's not too long ago Eddie Keher was calling for the use of yellow and red cards to be scrapped and his comments helped spark the formation of a group to review hurling.
In that light, what are the chances of another card being added? The black card was only narrowly passed in football after the Football Review Committee lobbied hard and made a presentation to delegates at Congress. It's hard to imagine any such move getting the required support at ground level.
Down the line, managers might come up with new ways to side-step the rule book but at the moment the black card is neither needed nor welcome.
Yes, says Cliona Foley
Sport is full of anomalies. Chewy Luis got hit by a new 'three bites and you're out' rule yesterday and the Twitter machine exploded.
It was quickly pointed out that Suarez has been banned for 34 games since 2010 without receiving a single red card; further proof, if needed, that discipline in sport regularly stretches the findings of the rule books.
You could argue that if a Gaelic player sank his teeth into an opponent (and it has been alleged in the past year, though not proven) then he would have had the 'Treor Oifigiuil' thrown at him and been banned for six to 12 months for bringing the game into disrepute.
But within the GAA's own disciplinary system, at the moment there is one howling anomaly that should be addressed.
When Cillian Buckley took down Jonathan Glynn to concede a penalty in the dying minutes of last week's Leinster hurling semi-final your automatic reaction was 'black card, ref!'
Only, of course, this was hurling, where there is no such thing as a black card.
But why the hell not?
The introduction of a black card to Gaelic football this year was designed to punish deliberate, cynical fouling and only the most entrenched die-hard could argue that it hasn't had some success.
Yes, there will still be times where players will 'take one for the team' this summer, as Sean Cavanagh did when he rugby-tackled Conor McManus last year.
But we are no longer seeing the plethora of rugby-style blatant pull-downs that used to pepper the final five minutes of any inter-county football game of consequence.
Yet, hey ho, it's not a problem if hurlers do it, which they do regularly, especially close to goal.
Hurling may be threatening to give us another second golden summer but, no matter what the purists tell you, it is not without its own dark arts.
Catching an opponent's hurl with your hand or elbow, and the cynical use of the 'spare hand', are among the skilful transgressions in the new mile-a-minute modern game.
Referees, thankfully, have got better at spotting these slick fouls but, under hurling rules 5.17 and 5.18, a deliberate pull-down or trip still only warrants a yellow.
Every time the GAA makes a rule change it ruminates long and hard over whether it can be applied in the 'club game,' arguing you can't have one rule for some and not for all. So how then can they have different disciplinary rules for their own two codes?
A pull-down is a pull-down. A deliberate trip is a deliberate trip, a 'deliberate collision' after the ball is what it says on the tin.
If you think those only happen in football you're not watching much hurling.
If you get a black card for deliberately taking out an opponent in one code then you should get it in the other.
To quote Dougal: "That's mad, Ted!"
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