Paddy Stapleton critical of new advantage rule

Former Tipperary defender Paddy Stapleton says there was no need to change the advantage rule in hurling.

The rule came into effect for the first time over the weekend which encourages referees to blow for a free if a foul has been committed within shooting range rather than allowing the play to develop.

Many have questioned the need for this rule, including Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald who says that “the game is in trouble” if there’s too many stoppages.

Borrisileigh native Paddy Stapleton says it isn’t an improvement on the game:

“No it isn’t. It was very stop-start, we can’t put up with that sort of stuff.

“We had a pretty good advantage rule, it needed a tweaking but to rely on the referees to actually read the game in advance that much, I wouldn’t be trusting them.

“I think to give them the extra few seconds to see where it’s developing, I think people really kind of appreciated that over the last few years.

“I don’t know, sometimes you’d be looking for a rule change fo ten years and they’d be slow to make it and I didn’t hear anybody saying this rule needed to be changed.”