Player surrounded. How do you get out of that?

[sam03/05]

tell team to play the ball out between legs of opponents towards their own goal.
If everyone is aware of this then increases chances of keeping possession

[feetofflames]

I believe the guys that run the ball into trouble were ruining the game for years, their refusal to think faster and move the ball faster detroys Gaelic Football as a spectacle.  I love seeing the Tyrone lads get around a lonely and greedy ball runner and play bumpin' cars wth them, Who will ever forget the 2003 ai semifinal - a scene of wonder.  If these mooches want to run the ball like rugby league throw them iin amongst the bumpin' cars - Its all a headless chicken will ever deserve on the pitch.  

[tyssam5]

Didn't the Kerry CB chairman call for a rule change in relation to this after taking a huff when they got beat a few years back?

Aye Sean Walsh. Embarrassing (I would imagine, if they have such an emotion there?), but if they were good losers they wouldn't win so feckin much.

Player with the ball in hand has an such a big advantage in football over the tackler that if he allows himself to get surrounded then tough, free out! For the midfielder the ref will give him the benefit in a lot of cases and I wouldn't realy argue with that too much. Introduce a mark, but only from the kick-out? Don't think we need to go that far.

[red hander]

Didn't the Kerry CB chairman call for a rule change in relation to this after taking a huff when they got beat a few years back?

He did indeed, and he was the same boy who came out with the ballix about restoring pride in the game of football when kerry won in 2004 ... Mr Motivator we bushmen call him

[Gaffer]

Alot depends also on the ref !! Some refs could lose their bottle when one of those situations arises and give the foul to the player in possession.

Saw that happening to Tyrone alot post 2003!!

[corn02]

I don't think the issue here is the legal or illegallity of the tackling, more the consistency of referees. Tyrones crowding, which I very much appreciated, would have been blown up by many referees.

[Leo]

There a number of posters who train teams.  During the game on Saturday, we saw that players were surrounded by 3/4/5 players who did not foul the person with the ball.  Very disciplined.  How does the player with the ball get out of this?  Should the rule about charging be amended to give the surrounded player some hope?

Trainers out there, what do you tell your players?  If there a number of players surrounding one, there must be other free players?  Have not seen any teams that have any plan to combat this.

First of all in practically all of these situations the player in possession is being fouled. Armagh introduced this and Tyrone perfected it where a swarm of players inflict a series of physical blows to a player when most of them cant even see the ball. That's foul play and has shamed our game and should be booted out. Nobody seems prepared to highlight this on TV.
Secondly the high catch at midfield usually results in a tackle on the man before he hits the ground - again a foul.

Thirdly a simple rule of advantage to a highfielding player would eliminate this midfield issue and protect a great skill.

Do we have a rules over-seer who can review these issues after major games and get referees trained oin that basis?

[David McKeown]

As long as no one player fouls then as many as they want can surround a player, that to me is good defending.  If however as Leo suggests at least one of them is fouling then it should always be penalised.  Too often though fans shout fould because four or five men are tackling/surrounding but none of them are actually fouling

[tyssam5]

Alot depends also on the ref !! Some refs could lose their bottle when one of those situations arises and give the foul to the player in possession.

Saw that happening to Tyrone alot post 2003!!

That is true to an extent. The referee has so much leeway in football that he can blow frees for things that offend his concept of aesthetic as opposed to things that break the rules.

[Mike Sheehy]

Definitely a problem although I've noticed most teammates now give the fielder instant options when he lands, offering immediate assistance to receive the ball, maybe even standing shoulder-to-shoulder. How often this year did we see McGrane off-load to a runner within a split-second of catching the ball. With Tyrone not really having a regular fielder in recent years, this crowding development has suited them more than others.

It is quite sad that Tyrone have singlehandely attempted to destroy the art of high fielding because they dont have players good enough to perfect the art. Its all well and good to say "we will play to our strengths" but what about all this underage coaching we here about in Tyrone. Why can they not coach players to do this ? Perhaps they dont see it as a valuable skill.

What is even sadder is that they are proud of it.

The day you hear lads talkng about trying to handpass the ball between the legs of a ruck of players is a sad day for football.

[Gaffer]

So are you saying that Tyrone should play the way that suits Kerry?

You play the game according to the rules and how you play it after that is up to you!

[Bulwinkle]

Definitely a problem although I've noticed most teammates now give the fielder instant options when he lands, offering immediate assistance to receive the ball, maybe even standing shoulder-to-shoulder. How often this year did we see McGrane off-load to a runner within a split-second of catching the ball. With Tyrone not really having a regular fielder in recent years, this crowding development has suited them more than others.

It is quite sad that Tyrone have singlehandely attempted to destroy the art of high fielding because they dont have players good enough to perfect the art. Its all well and good to say "we will play to our strengths" but what about all this underage coaching we here about in Tyrone. Why can they not coach players to do this ? Perhaps they dont see it as a valuable skill.

What is even sadder is that they are proud of it.

The day you hear lads talkng about trying to handpass the ball between the legs of a ruck of players is a sad day for football.

Well Dublin only managed one more clean catch than Tyrone on Saturday...or do you blame Tyrone for this?

[Mike Sheehy]

So are you saying that Tyrone should play the way that suits Kerry?

No. I just think it is sad that this great skill is dying out all because some teams who cant master it decide to stop it at all costs.

I found it very interesting around the time of the International rules. It has become apparent that the only way to compete in that game is to
move more and more toward the Aussi rules game. That might be ok but even the art of high-fielding so prevalent in Aussie rules isnt a factor in the
compromize rules.

Thats what its like in Gaelic football. Teams that cant play it the way its meant to be played are continuously forcing us to deemphasize the core skills of Gaelic football in order to compete in this new bastardized form of Gaelic football. In fact the sneering attitude of some northern contributors toward the traditional skills is very disheartening.

[Bulwinkle]

So are you saying that Tyrone should play the way that suits Kerry?

No. I just think it is sad that this great skill is dying out all because some teams who cant master it decide to stop it at all costs.

I found it very interesting around the time of the International rules. It has become apparent that the only way to compete in that game is to
move more and more toward the Aussi rules game. That might be ok but even the art of high-fielding so prevalent in Aussie rules isnt a factor in the
compromize rules.

Thats what its like in Gaelic football. Teams that cant play it the way its meant to be played are continuously forcing us to deemphasize the core skills of Gaelic football in order to compete in this new bastardized form of Gaelic football. In fact the sneering attitude of some northern contributors toward the traditional skills is very disheartening.

..like passing and scoring, and taking frees.  The only elemant of the game in which Dublin dominated Tyrone in any manner at all  on Saturday was the breaking ball. 

[ONeill]

You're completely missing the point. It's not that players cannot field the ball any more. It's that the game has moved on in terms of athleticism, fitness and tactics that players don't now sit, qawk and admire a clean field by an opposing player. You now need to use quickness of thought and off-load or else it'll be a turn-over. It took Tyrone to teach Kerry that lesson in 2003. They did learn it and it's simply down to Mickey Harte and Tyrone that Kerry have now managed to bring their game up to the notch required in the modern era. Their hammerings in 2001, 2002 and 2003 happened no more. You should be thankful.