Prepare for crowd participation, civility and deflation

The challenge matches and the sandbox games are done.

The Football Review Committee's much-trumpeted 'enhanced' rules really get tested in earnest this weekend.

It was clear that delegates at Congress had seen enough sideways passing to last a lifetime and voted through the new rules with the type of majorities that Saddam Hussein used to achieve during his pomp.

The potential for confusion and chaos and indeed consternation is ever present.

Here, folk of a certain age may remember back when yellow and red cards were debuted in the 1999 championship and we were treated to the spectacle of six players being sent off in a game between Westmeath-Carlow, before the authorities clarified the circumstances in which cards should be doled out. This generated quite the furore at the time.

The verdict on the rules thus far is mostly positive, however there could yet be a few snags. Let us run the rule over some potential points of contention.

The 16th man becomes the fifth official

Crowds growing accustomed to a new rule sometimes resemble undergrad psychology students encountering Freud for the first time. They suddenly start seeing examples of the infraction all over the place.

We saw this with the black card, when match-goers became disposed to demanding a black card at every conceivable opportunity, sometimes even in cases where a red card offence had just been committed.

The recent challenge match between Kildare and Galway in Newbridge showed the potential of the crowd to involve itself in the application of the new rules.

The Irish Examiner reported that the atmosphere resembled a "panto" with the home crowd in the stand repeatedly drawing the attention of referee David Gough and his linesmen towards the fact that one of Galway's