Marky Mark and the GAA from 1 January

[haranguerer]

Do you want to list the playing changes the GAA have made in that time to see how it stacks up?

briefly off the top of my head

yellow card
red card
lifting off ground
kickout from score and wide from 13m
goal can't be fisted from hand
open fist when fisting points
square ball rule change
sidelines out of hands
frees out of hands (?)
number of subs
blood subs
black card



Not against change if thought through and beneficial, but even the way these come in are a joke, inevitably the first anyone hears about it is after it is enacted. Yes, I'd know about it if I went to co board meetings etc  but hardly any of the gaa public (players/supporters) do. Should there not be consultations about rule changes at the very least? See how long it took FIFA to implement goal line technology, a fairly obvious (you'd think) improvement, but at least they took the time to consider it properly.

[Jinxy]

What's the alternative lads, in an attempt to mitigate the scourge that is the short kick out and to promote high fielding? There seems to be considerable pessimism/criticism but not much in the way of alternatives. I don't think it's a panacea but in the slow moving world of GAA regulations it's a small positive step, providing it's implemented correctly.. 

As a keeper you'll want to kick the ball shorter now unless you're Steven Cluxton the last thing you'll want to do is hoof a 50/50 ball out to the middle in case you concede a mark. The only way to stop a short kickout is to outlaw it!

+1.
Every team will set up with a keeper who can accurately chip the ball 31-35 yards into the chest of a MDMA / Mattie Donnelly type runner.
Teams will now start with clean possession 50 yards from their own goal instead of under pressure on their own 21 yard lines so this will evolve to even more bodies around the middle to kill off space around their own 40.

I don't get you.
Teams will kick the ball out 35 yards and win clean possession instead of taking short kick-outs, and this will result in more bodies around the middle?
If there are more bodies in the middle, what's to stop the keeper taking a short kick-out?
The way I see it, we might get more bodies hanging around the HF line trying to hedge their bets and cover midfield runners and the full back line.
Either way, I don't see how the introduction of a mark will increase congestion around the middle of the field, and even if it does, that's going to leave the keeper with more options for short kick-outs.
Basically, this will be business as usual but with the added bonus of more clean catching out the field.
I'm not saying there will be a massive increase but I think the net effect will either be neutral or positive.

[Zulu]

In fairness you can't accuse the GAA of being impetuous when it comes to rule changes. There's been dozens of changes in other sports too, not just the ones wobbler mentioned. I think the GAA are as reluctant to change and cautious as any sport. They were also the only sport that I'm aware of that offered everyone in the world to put forth their ideas on how the game should develop, was it Eugene Magee's committee that did it?

I don't believe attacking strategies will evolve much to beat the negativity currently in the game as there's little you can do if teams put 15 bodies inside their 45. That nonsense has been broken anyway but unfortunately the cure (endless probing handpasses around the 45) is worse than the disease. The issue is we have a knockout competition with only a handful of serious contenders so it pays to play tournament football as the soccer boys call it. We didn't do that in the past as we didn't really use tactics but now that we do, there's little reward in employing overly attacking principles when defensive ones are easier to coach and more likely to succeed.

[Buckass]

I'd imagine most guys who make a clean catch will elect to play on unless they land surrounded by opposition. Nothing worse than a guy making a clean catch only to get bottled up on landing, losing possession or else a scrambling handpass back to a team-mate under pressure. Many refs simply award a free to fielder anyway even if no foul.
Can't see it slowing up matters much, even when mark is taken players will be keen to move it on.
For me the short kick-out feeds into everything that is hard to watch about our game presently. The kick-outs to corner-backs in the 1st Connacht final stand-out. The short kick-out gives the opposition ample time to 'set-up' their blanket/wall at the back while limiting the number of aerial contests.
It'd also be great to see the insistence that kick-outs must clear the 45. On the rare occasion that there's a gale force wind that makes hitting the 45 impossible the ref sensibly allows short kick-outs. Even if it brings a cluster of players out the middle that then leaves more space inside for quick ball in to forwards which would be good.

[seafoid]

Goalies should be forced to do kickouts with their eyes closed. Bring in an ould bit of excitement for the fans. I know purists love the elegance of systems but Eugene McGee knows 2 retired brothers in Leitrim who have watched everything on RTE for the last 59 years and it is not fair to have Brolly doing all the excitement.

[dferg]

The short kickout is a lot to do with the opposition dropping 1 of the corner forwards into midfield or further back.  Why would the keeper kick out into the middle where the opposition have an extra player when he can kick it short to a corner back who is unmarked that can work the ball to midfield with the extra man.

[BennyCake]

Play 11 a side, and therefore space is more valuable, therefore teams will be forced to go man to man. That would lead to longer kick outs because there would be nobody free to receive a short one.

[Jinxy]

We might actually see less congestion in the middle.
If you commit too many players there and there is a mark, you're effectively taken out of the game.
The way it worked for the last 10 years or more was you jumped against one or two, caught the ball, landed and then another two were waiting on the ground for you.
With the mark rule, that's four players who are now redundant in terms of getting back to defend your free kick.
I think we may actually get back to the good old fashioned aerial duel, as it's not the end of the world if your opponent catches it clean, as long as you have plenty of men back.
Or maybe I'm just hopelessly optimistic.

[BennyCake]

I'm not sure Jinxy. Few teams kick long as it is. Even less teams will kick long now there's a chance of an advantage for the other team (a mark and a free kick).

[seafoid]

Is Croke Park too short now for 15 a side GF given the fitness levels of the players ?
Or does the inability of 4 out of 6 forwards to kick a point from distance nullify the fitness effect ?

[seafoid]

It's not all shangri la, Jinxy. Even in the old days when you had fielders they would wear different numbers and it was very annoying.
But the ball got down the field faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg9AoIFET4E

And you get great comments on youube as well


Tessa Mullins 3 years ago
i shifted him in a nightclub in galway best night of my life

[Stall the Bailer]

Just on this:

We don't need a new line to dictate if a kick out from the 20m line has gone 13m. Besides the fact that the arc (13m in every direction, not 13m out) previously existed to support this rule, the 13m minimum distance for a free should be innate to any referee!

By moving all kick outs to the 21m line it compresses the 29 possible recipients into a smaller area of the field. While we could argue all day about whether removing 560m2 from the generally "safe" kicking area is actually enough, you simply can't argue against the fact it would reduce the potential for a safe short kick out, and as such would make a territorial kick more appealing. That's just maths in action.

I like your suggestion thewobbler but think you are slightly out on your math. Currently you must be outside the 20m line and 13m from the kick-out. A rule that is ignored a lot.
The two D's are 530m2 in size and currently you can't be inside some of that area for kick-outs.
However currently you see some kick-outs collected around the 20m line, or even inside it (which is allowed) and you suggestion would push this out at least 7m. I'd guess then most short kick-outs would go at least 30m from goal.

[thewobbler]

Stall the baller, I'm pretty sure you only have to be outside the 20m if it's not your keeper kicking it. But feck knows... the rules are a touch vague and it was early 2015 the last time I got a referee to explain them to me.

As far as I'm aware the two Ds no longer serve any purpose in the game apart from for penalties, as the keeper now has the option of restarting the ball from any point inside his 13m line, as long as the ball isn't moving.

But again, this is based on me consulting just one inter county referee. He could have been feeding me his interpretation rather than the facts.

[Wildweasel74]

Dont know about this one, teams will still play short as the mark not really be a benefit, the big worry is the GAA changing rules year after year, Black card one year, square ball rule another, number of subs 1 year, marks the next,

I remember the big change in GAA was in 1988 when the frees and sidelines could be taken from the hand, the pace of the game seriously increased after that and was seen as a good move.

Now there have been multi rules changes in recent years, some stay, other fall away, its not a wonder nobody knows the rules anymore. Is the game in that bad a shape that we must change the rules all the time, we worst than formula 1

[Stall the Bailer]

This is the current rule.

When the ball is played over the endline by
the Team attacking that end, or after a score
is made, play is restarted by a kick-out off the
ground from the 13m line and within the large
rectangle.
If the goalkeeper is not taking the kick-out, he
shall stay in the small rectangle, and all other
players, except the player taking the kick-out,
shall be outside the 20m line and 13m from the
ball, until it has been kicked.
The player taking a kick-out may kick the
ball more than once before any other player
touches it but may not take the ball into his
hands.
The ball shall travel 13m before being playe