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Throw ups should be vastly reduced by following a similar principle to rugby and just overturning a free due to foul play/dissent etc.  Throw up's often flare up incidents, whereas if the play was overturned to the opposition then the game can begin straight away and leave less standing around waiting for aggro to start!  Only scenarios where it is not known who the ball should be awarded too (e.g. a line ball) should there be a throw up.

i still have huge reservations about our defensive set up or rather lack of it. I really don't see any improvement in that area since last year tbh

We (Fermanagh) are quite similar ourselves. We score and leak goals. It could be fun, but maybe not for either of us! I see it as pretty much 50/50 and really should have been one of the GAAGO games.

Possession is when you hold the ball, in either one hand or two. It's very similar to basketball in terms of dribbling, in that the dribble should technically end if the ball is held in any way at all (however this is now farcical in basketball where it just isn't called until it is ridiculously obvious.) However no player ever intentionally uses a basketball dribble, it's virtually always a means to retrieve possession when they aren't able to collect the ball in their hands after a bounce/solo/pass etc. A player will always take the ball into their hand/s if they can.

I don't understand why you are getting so caught up in these small nuances of the rules, I'm not sure it's much benefit to you!

I can't see any reason why a toe tap and punch/flick to the net would be illegal, and under what rule would you penalise a player for punching to the net after a player has bounced on the ground?  I appreciate you mention "deliberate" but these are both scenarios I always considered legal regardless of any intention.  I've never seen anything to specifically cater for it in the rules, and as such, that deems it legal to me.  However I could have missed it.  I'm fully aware a referee is very likely to blow either as a foul (especially a bounce and flick to the net) as it is such an unusual scenario that they may not have considered the rules for it until they are faced with it!

Gianni, a lot of the questions you raised there were probably not answered because they are of no benefit.  Nobody, playing seriously, would try these.  It's probably easier to understand the rules by watching the games and then applying the rules to it, rather than the other way around.  Because if you are applying a strict interpretation of the rules to how the game is actually played, it will get very confusing very quickly!

Gianni - Google GAA Official Guide 2024 part 2. Download the pdf. Football rules from page 60 to 122.

The problem is that the manual does not help solve all my situations that I have written. I have already read it but it didn't help me.

Bare in mind as we've seen on here, the referee's handbook within the GAA Learning Portal has more important detail on some rules #minefield

Is there a referee manual? Maybe a casebook but where could I find it?

Other question:
The ball may be knocked from an opponent's
hand(s) by flicking it with the open hand
But when the ball is released or is bouncing or soccer juggling, i.e. I mean when the ball is not in contact with the hand, can it be stolen by touching it or grabbing it with both hands?

You can't wrestle the ball away from an opponent if he has it in his possession (both hands) if the ball is open/unprotected then it can be tackled/flicked punched away or taken cleanly

So if a player holds the ball with two hands or even with one hand and his chest, can the ball only be stolen with an open hand? I notice a real difficulty in stealing the ball in this game, because being able to hold the ball in your hands makes it almost impossible to steal the ball, because in football there is more precarious control, whereas in rugby the control is absolute but there is tackle.

What do you think of my other doubts?

Please could anyone explain me what do Showing the Ball and Turning Twice with the ball mean?

Showing the ball and turning twice are specifically mentioned because there was always a common misconception that they were a foul.

"Showing the ball" is when the ball handler moves the ball away from their body whilst still in their hand/s, usually as a dummy/fake to deceive an opponent.  A nuance to understand with this, is that some more skillful players might do this with one hand.  Show the ball to one side and then step to the opposite side in an attempt to evade an opponent.  Again this is perfectly fine.  However when passing the ball from one hand and back to the other then the "original" hand needs to maintain contact with the ball as it moves from one hand to the other.  You can't throw the ball from one hand to the other. There needs to be an exchange from one hand to the other or a point, no matter how brief, where both hands are on the ball.  I believe the lack of understanding of this led to the belief "showing the ball" is a foul play.

"Turning twice" is generally a situation where a player attempts to evade an opponent by going one direction and then turning the opposite way and going a different direction, without ever playing the ball (taking a bounce or solo.)  Again, this is perfectly fine.  Generally, this action will border on the 4 steps rule (which isn't policed stringently in any case.)  Somehow it developed into a scenario where simply "turning twice" was seen as a foul in itself, which was never the case.

I agree that square ball serves very little purpose as it is now, I don't really see the benefit in maintaining it.  Whilst we are re-drawing the lines, could I also suggest that the penalty area is brought out to the '21 and made about 5 yards wider on either side also.  Relative to the size of the pitch the current penalty area is very small and so many goal chances are lost to minor fouls 14/15 yards from goal.

Goes to show you what referees have to deal with when those are being thrown up as contentious.

I'm surprised we've got this far without acknowledging that Beggan was actually launching it into the square!

I saw Eoin Donnelly do similar a couple of times for Fermanagh, and I was never quite sure if he was shooting or not either.  Personally for me, it either needs to contain individual flair/skill or be a fantastic team score.  A one off shot whilst often superb, is pretty common.  I can think of similar scores from my own club men over the years.  But when I look at some of the scores from Canavan, Clifford or Matt Connor, you don't see that replicated  much at all because of the level of skill, balance, poise, composure etc.  I'm sure there are others too.

*Please don't post that James McCartan point v Derry where he runs 40 steps like a little terrier, it's an amazing feat of tenacity but doesn't belong here!

Championship should absolutely be linked to leagues. if you're div 1 league you're playing against better teams and therefore your team are used to playing at a higher standard than those playing in the divisions below, I honestly cant understand how anyone can say a div 1 team are a Junior club

But equally can't see how playing in a League that is set to run without county players etc. means a team who managed to reach Division 1 and barely held on means they'll be good enough for Senior. Especially when their Championship results over last 8 years show they deserved to be a Junior team.

Is it hard to understand that a diluted League with no County men might not be the best judge of a team?

They stayed in Div 1 mainly wihtout their county men so surely they are stronger with them?

All 3 of Cavan's provincial representatives Senior (Gowna), Intermediate (Ballyhaise) & Junior (Arva) play in Cavan Division 1.

Cavan people think this is perfectly normal. Imagine Tyrone sending the team that finished 13th in Division 1 (Coalisland) to play in the Ulster Junior.

Arva lost to Drumlane last year in the Cavan Junior Final. Drumlane then lost to the Stewartstown in the Ulster Final. Why not look at the actual games rather than an imaginary scenario?

I'm familiar with Stewartstown, for all intents and purposes they're a middling Intermediate team that slipped into junior (Covid-related) and came right back up again. So for a Cavan Junior team to take them to extra time leads me to believe that like Stewartstown, they're not actually Junior standard.

So what you are saying is that Stewartstown shouldn't have been a Junior team but nevertheless ended up a Junior team, despite this being based on the presumed correct way of doing things via the league.  Have yous thought of basing the gradings off the Championship

When you strip it all back, the All Ireland Intermediate and Junior competitions aren't really fit for purpose. The sentiment at the time of their creation was in the right spirit. But when you look at it, both competitions operate on a skewed playing field. There are huge disparities in how counties run their internal competitions.

There's no doubt it is a skewed playing field, but I'm not even sure if everyone applied the same rules across the board would the playing field really level out at Provincial level given the disparity in the number of clubs between each county.  It would nearly need an individual directive within each county, is that realistic?  I don't think it is, but there should be some attempt to reduce the anomalies that can occur. 

I still believe they are both good competitions even if they can be skewed at times.

My point about Shane's being punished this year isn't that they're in the senior championship. It's that they miss their county players throughout the league, but come championship time they're punished by being seeded based on league position. It's ridiculous.

Down, who people like to claim have the fairest system, have also moved away from linking league and championship and are now using relegation playoffs for championship too. Bosco for example were in intermediate but also div 4 this year, whereas Drumaness were div 3 but won the junior.

I had understood the point you were making Ranch and it is an entirely fair point.  A lot of leagues across the country are played without county players, or at least at various stages of the year.  Meanwhile Championships will virtually always have teams at their strongest, now which seems more logical to base gradings on?  The weaker league teams or the stronger Championship?

It's obviously not as simple as that, but most of you are allowing the rare confluence of events that led Arva to be a Div 1 team and at Junior Championship level to base your opinions off.  However if we were to thoroughly examine Championships based off leagues, would we find certain clubs with no (or few) county players who are arguably playing at a Championship grade beyond them? 

In Fermanagh we have a similar system to Cavan and this rare event has never occurred.  However a team who one year is not good enough to win the Junior Championship within their own County is then deemed to be too strong for the Provincial Championship one  year later?  Bear in mind that the team that won that Championship (Drumlane) didn't even win the Provincial Championship.  It wasn't an issue last year but now once they have improved as a team, it is a problem.  Maybe they shouldn't be allowed to play their returning players from emigration or lads back from injuries which will have them back at the level people seemingly want for the grade .  No grading system will be perfect and on rare occasions teams will end up being very strong at their grade, or very weak, which will be more down to the personal circumstances of the team than whether it is Championship or League based relegation/promotion. 

In Fermanagh we have a split of 8, 8 and 4 for Junior.  For a long time we didn't have a Junior Championship and just had 10 in both Senior and Intermediate (and 12 and 8 at one stage too iirc.)

Anyone able to answer this one?

Guy gets a straight red in a county final in a lower grade - intermediate for example.

Does he serve the one match suspension in this year's provincial championship (a different competition?) or the first round of next year's senior championship?

This goes all the way back to Mark Vaughan getting sent off in a Leinster semi final in 2006 maybe (which was lost) and then playing for Kilmacud the following year v Brigids in opening round of Dublin Championship (I believe they appealed that it was a different competition and thus he was allowed to play.)  I tried to google there but given there was so much back and forth it's hard to find the chronology of events (Brigids appealed successfully initially I think.)  The rational outcome would be that they are all regarded as the same competition (or a continuation of the same, as such.)  However I can't be 100% sure.  I'd definitely side with the player being suspended for the provincial game, they're bound to have cleared that up, surely, maybe, possibly.

From gaelicstatsman

David Clifford needs 0-5 or more to top the overall list for this year

It's all to play for the 'from play' list, Colm Basquel (30), Con O'Callaghan (29) and Clifford (28) all involved in the All Ireland final

Did Shane McGuigan point at the end to give himself a better chance at top scorer.....?

No, he did not.

Did nobody else think Glass was at fault for the Kerry goal?
I know I said before that White is fast but Glass seemed to let him go.
Not sure would McKinless or others have done the same.

Yeah it was poor from him, was also poor from Clifford for Derrys goal, he let Rogers run past him.

I see a lot of posts about Derry changing their style. I don't think they really did, they attacked with 15 and defended with 15 like they always do, they pressed the kick outs like they always do, they used Lynch as a spare man out the field like they always do, they went for goals like they always do.

They've put in very good attacking displays before playing like this which the media fail to acknowledge (eg All Ulster champ games in last 2 years bar the finals, Clare last year, Donegal this year, all the Div 2 games they won at a canter). The boring games are when teams replicate them and there have been a few high profile games like this eg the last 2 Ulster finals, Galway last year, Cork. The main difference was how Kerry set up against them imo.

Totally agree with this, Derry didn't change their style at all.

This was irritating me also. On the RTE GAA Podcast last week Damien Lawlor seemed to be scoffing at the suggestion from Paddy Bradley that Derry would go all out to win the game and not go into a defensive shell.

Also the notion that Derry wouldn't have done this under Gallagher is similar, it was him that led the team to play this way (along with his management team, who have continued in the same vein.) For me though, it was the best performance from Derry in the past 2 years, but they are a year further down the line and had the experience of playing a full blooded AI Semi in Croker so were also in a better place to deliver that (the facile win v Clare didn't really count for much in terms of big game experience last year tbh.)