Gaelic Football - Rules & Regulations discussion/clarification

[6th sam]

That's your opinion as a referee but not necessarily shared by many referees. The optics of a four person throw in aren't good , in terms of marketing the game. And the  evidence is very clear . The referee has to police 2 simultaneous 1v1 contestants which has become increasingly difficult as the cynical play around the throw in, has increased. There may be merit in the  2 non-competing  midfielders being placed on the same sideline facing the referee, at opposite 45s, thus conferring no advantage to either team and referee able to see both non competing midfielders.

[Milltown Row2]

That's your opinion as a referee but not necessarily shared by many referees. The optics of a four person throw in aren't good , in terms of marketing the game. And the  evidence is very clear . The referee has to police 2 simultaneous 1v1 contestants which has become increasingly difficult as the cynical play around the throw in, has increased. There may be merit in the  2 non-competing  midfielders being placed on the same sideline facing the referee, at opposite 45s, thus conferring no advantage to either team and referee able to see both non competing midfielders.

So that's your opinion and you along with panel feel that's a positive.

Again you're entitled to that as am I.. as for other refs, I would as you'd expect be speaking to ref's and the one v one thing never came up as an issue.

There are plenty of one v one throw ins during a match, they generally descend to a pulling and hauling match by both players or the other players which refused to retreat back the 13 meters.

I haven't heard one argument how this throw up will improve the game.

I'll go further, I've not seen one post on here from, let's say last year, (before the rules panel set up) any poster bringing up a thought of I'd wish they'd get rid of the four in the middle for the throw in.

[marty34]

On the 1 vs 1 throw in,  Connacht worked one well but it's a total advantage to the team facing the ball if you get me.  Aidan OShea just boxed the ball from the throw up, put his fist straight though it over to his player facing opposite him.  Thats a huge advantage vs the team whose other midfielder is behind them
Your never going to be able to generate the power to do that if your midfield partner is behind you if you get me

That will work also for the other team in the second half as his player will be facing the mid-field pairing.

So advantage/disadvantage to both teams.

But certainly not the winning/losing of a match.

[Armagh18]

Jesus is there anything wrong with a bit of wrestling pre throw up? Fire the ball in and let them at it, love to see it

[Truthsayer]

Jesus is there anything wrong with a bit of wrestling pre throw up? Fire the ball in and let them at it, love to see it

If wrestlings ure thing 🤷

[marty34]

Jesus is there anything wrong with a bit of wrestling pre throw up? Fire the ball in and let them at it, love to see it

FFS.

[Ringfort]

Interesting few matches this weekend. Some thoughts.....

Gaelic football is almost exclusively a club and underage game. Inter County is the elite only. A lot of these new rules are just about the county game and how it might appeal to the media and armchair/fair weather supporters. Many of them will be totally unworkable at club and underage level. I cannot believe the FRC appear to have not taken this into account. Are we to have two different sets of rules for the same sport?

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

The kick out.
This is good. Punt it out beyond the 45 and pick out a man if you can. Otherwise an old fashioned battle under a high ball.

The arc.
Firstly the lining out of it is fine for intercounty level. What kind of 40 meter arc are we going to see at club and underage level?
Secondly the 2 point score. I'm not sold on it but willing to give it the year. You won't see a whole pile of them scored at club level anyway. Could you just use the existing 45 and award 2 for scores outside that?
A 2 point free or 45? Nonsense. Get that to fcuk.

Keeper no pass back but beyond the half way line allowed to play.
I'm in favour of no pass back to keeper. Open mind about the plus 1 he creates in the attacking half. The sentiment here is good and will be interesting to see what teams do tactically. Easy enough to ref at club level.

Solo and go.
Fine.

Frees moved up 50 meters.
A lot of bullshit with this one. You have lads blown for something who hold up their hands going "wha?!?" and are penalised 50 meters. That's not dissent or mouthing to the ref. Can you imagine the carnage at club level with this kind of thing. Also for preventing the quick free. Half the time the man who has won the free just picks up the ball and barges straight into the nearest defending player as if he is being obstructed and the ref nearly always falls for it. I'm sure I saw it last night where an innocuous incident out the middle of the field was brought up for a tap over free. Pure bullshit. Again imagine this in any club game league or championship?!

1 v 1 throw in.
No problem with it. Good idea actually but nothing major either way.

4 point goal.
I'm open to it but not sure it's necessary.

I think that's them all. Basically any rule changes have to be easily workable across the whole game from u14 club up to county in my opinion. I'm not saying i would have these but it would have to be the likes of previously raised ideas like
-limit the consecutive handpass to 3 or 4 or whatever
- no pass back to keeper.
- no going back once you cross half way  line.

One thing I've been on about for years that I'd like to see done is enforce the steps rule and allow defenders a bit more leeway when putting heat on an opponent. Way too many soft frees given these days in my opinion when what we want to see is contests, physicality etc etc.

[BigGreenField]

Interesting few matches this weekend. Some thoughts.....

Gaelic football is almost exclusively a club and underage game. Inter County is the elite only. A lot of these new rules are just about the county game and how it might appeal to the media and armchair/fair weather supporters. Many of them will be totally unworkable at club and underage level. I cannot believe the FRC appear to have not taken this into account. Are we to have two different sets of rules for the same sport?

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

The kick out.
This is good. Punt it out beyond the 45 and pick out a man if you can. Otherwise an old fashioned battle under a high ball.

The arc.
Firstly the lining out of it is fine for intercounty level. What kind of 40 meter arc are we going to see at club and underage level?
Secondly the 2 point score. I'm not sold on it but willing to give it the year. You won't see a whole pile of them scored at club level anyway. Could you just use the existing 45 and award 2 for scores outside that?
A 2 point free or 45? Nonsense. Get that to fcuk.

Keeper no pass back but beyond the half way line allowed to play.
I'm in favour of no pass back to keeper. Open mind about the plus 1 he creates in the attacking half. The sentiment here is good and will be interesting to see what teams do tactically. Easy enough to ref at club level.

Solo and go.
Fine.

Frees moved up 50 meters.
A lot of bullshit with this one. You have lads blown for something who hold up their hands going "wha?!?" and are penalised 50 meters. That's not dissent or mouthing to the ref. Can you imagine the carnage at club level with this kind of thing. Also for preventing the quick free. Half the time the man who has won the free just picks up the ball and barges straight into the nearest defending player as if he is being obstructed and the ref nearly always falls for it. I'm sure I saw it last night where an innocuous incident out the middle of the field was brought up for a tap over free. Pure bullshit. Again imagine this in any club game league or championship?!

1 v 1 throw in.
No problem with it. Good idea actually but nothing major either way.

4 point goal.
I'm open to it but not sure it's necessary.

I think that's them all. Basically any rule changes have to be easily workable across the whole game from u14 club up to county in my opinion. I'm not saying i would have these but it would have to be the likes of previously raised ideas like
-limit the consecutive handpass to 3 or 4 or whatever
- no pass back to keeper.
- no going back once you cross half way  line.

One thing I've been on about for years that I'd like to see done is enforce the steps rule and allow defenders a bit more leeway when putting heat on an opponent. Way too many soft frees given these days in my opinion when what we want to see is contests, physicality etc etc.

Agree on the steps rule - lot of additional freedom for forwards here, steps needs to be enforced to give defenders a chance.

On the keeper joining the attack/coming live in opposition half I think it should be 4 v 3 kept back so if the keeper piles forward another outfield player has to stay back. Not sure that can be an easy or possible job for a ref in a club game though so it may have to default to keeper  only coming live in opposition 45 (that one for the brave!)

[twohands!!!]

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

I'd imagine at club level as soon as a team breaks the 3up/3back rule the opposition will be yelling at the ref within milliseconds. I really don't see it being difficult to enforce at all.

[Armagh18]

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

I'd imagine at club level as soon as a team breaks the 3up/3back rule the opposition will be yelling at the ref within milliseconds. I really don't see it being difficult to enforce at all.

Yeah while the other team is yelling back no ref I wasn't over the line I was a yard behind it.

[Rossfan]

If we must have 2 point scores let it be from shots outside the 45 instead of the silly arc.

[clonian]

On the keeper joining the attack/coming live in opposition half I think it should be 4 v 3 kept back so if the keeper piles forward another outfield player has to stay back. Not sure that can be an easy or possible job for a ref in a club game though so it may have to default to keeper  only coming live in opposition 45 (that one for the brave!)


[/quote]

Keep the keepers behind the 45. For every good score Niall Morgan comes up and gets or sets up you'll have 100 keepers standing holding possession doing nothing like they have done over the last couple of years. Might be harsh on some keepers, I was a keeper btw, but in most instances they're adding nothing to the game except giving players a pass when they're stuck and they add to the shite keep ball game we see at club level especially.

I'd be on for trying most of he rules but the 2 points for a free or 45 should go

[twohands!!!]

My advice to any manager/coach/player is to start thinking about how you're going to change your approach to the game now because the overall sense I'm gettting from talking to people over the weekend is very much that these rules are going to be in place for the pre-season competitions (which will be back for a year to try out these rules) With my tinfoil hat on I'm not sure if the powers that be "managed" to finally get rid of them this year so as to have a sop to bring them back to try out the rules or whether this is just a happy accident for the FRC.

The fact that the FRC are calling for one year to trial these rules initially and also allowing tweaks/adjustments to these rules during the year if necessary means that it's going to be very tough to organise any sort of real opposition to these rules. The fact that if these rules aren't accepted it will be 2030 before the rules can be significantly changed means it will be very hard for those arguing for the status quo. The reality is that the powers that be know that the game is in trouble. They have the hard data in terms of attendances/viewing numbers plus the responses to the FRCs initial survey. Those coming out with things are fine/no need for any changes are pretty much automatically putting themselves in the box of being so out of touch with reality as to make their views on everything related to the game unreliable. Also the FRC have said in their report they are willing to give counties control over which of these rules to bring in at underage so as to best facilitate skills development practicality, which will negate a lot of those concerned about how these rules would work at underage for the moment. Anyone trying to organise opposition to these rules getting brought in temporarily for next year is going to be in starting from what look's like an unwinnable uphill battle to me, which is why I'm advising folks to get thinking about how your going to deal with these new rule now.

[twohands!!!]

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

I'd imagine at club level as soon as a team breaks the 3up/3back rule the opposition will be yelling at the ref within milliseconds. I really don't see it being difficult to enforce at all.

Yeah while the other team is yelling back no ref I wasn't over the line I was a yard behind it.

The thing is that being a yard or a meter over the line is unlikelly to make much/any difference 99.99999% of the time so most of the time at club level the ref won't call the free unless it's a situation where the player breaking the rule interferes with play. Overall the way the rule is framed means that the overwhelming majority of the time this rule will have its intended affect in terms of opening up space and it will require very little in the way of work/enforcement by the referee.

[Brendan]

3 up/3 back.
I like that it forces more space into the game. But I cannot see how it can be implemented at club level. Will be absolute carnage for refs,players, supporters and management. Perhaps I will be proven wrong in time....

I'd imagine at club level as soon as a team breaks the 3up/3back rule the opposition will be yelling at the ref within milliseconds. I really don't see it being difficult to enforce at all.

Refs are conditioned to ignore most calls from the sidelines anyway at this stage