Gaelic Football - Rules & Regulations discussion/clarification

[Milltown Row2]

For the 1% club that's fine

For the riff raff ordinary joes of the world we'll stick with the two watches

[Delgany 2nds]

On this week's RTÉ GAA podcast, former Kerry player and manager Fitzmaurice was asked whether he understands the frustration with the rule as it has played out to date.

"Absolutely, 100%," he said.

"When we were thinking about it initially, it was to avoid a double punishment, where if you got a black or red card, that team would have the freedom to have their two players on either their defensive or offensive side.

"We thought that's the way it would play out, but that isn't the way it's playing out. Teams have exploited it and used it very cleverly.

"Even being down players, teams have been able to engineer a 12v11."



The Jim Gavin-led FRC has a weekly online meeting every Monday, as well as in-person meetings where the landscape of the rule rules is critiqued.

After the next round of games there could be further tweaks to the current rules, but Fitzmaurice is keen to stress that while this particular rule will be addressed, it was always expected that road-testing would bring about further changes.

"Of course when we meet up, that will be one of the items we will be discussing," he said.

"It's going to be something we're going to have to look at.

"It is an unintended consequence. That was always going to happen. That's the reason this year is an experimental year.

"That's the beauty of being able to trial it like this. By the time things are voted into the permanent rule book at the end of the year, they will have been robustly tested, hopefully streamlined and improved."

So the current playing rules are  tweaked weekly or so ! Got help thd club refs !

[Milltown Row2]

They aint interested in club refs

[tonto1888]

They aint interested in club refs

i dont think they are interested in refs full stop

[The Trap]

Don't think they are interested in clubs full stop!

[GTP]

There isn't much interest shown in those watching on TV or spectating as we are no longer in a position to understand what is happening on the pitch.
Also, the rules will not be 'robustly tested' each tweak of the rules could have further unintended consequences which will not be tested properly. And given the raft of changes how does anyone decide which rules or tweaks are enhancing the game and which aren't. 

[JoG2]

Don't think they are interested in clubs full stop!

Would they and their families not all be members of clubs? But yes, it's a great high stool soundbite, but not quite a GAAism though I don't think

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2025/02/25/restricting-goalkeepers-would-help-address-excessive-handpassing-says-paul-earley/

The Football Review Committee will shortly make final recommendations for the rules to be applied in this year's championship. The report on the first three rounds of the National Football League by the GAA's Games Intelligence Unit provides some parameters for that discussion.

The obvious findings are the preponderance of long kick-outs and the increase in contested kick-outs but there was some disappointment that the handpass to kick pass ratio had hardly budged from the 2023 and '24 figures of 3.2:1 and 3.4:1 during the opening weeks of the season.

Paul Earley, one of the GAA's most qualified coaches and a veteran of Eugene McGee's FRC in 2012, has predictably been taking a keen interest in how the game is evolving and believes there are a number of changes that could be made before the summer rules are finalised.

One is the role of the goalkeeper. This has attracted much comment because of the fact that the roaming 'keeper is allowed to create an imbalance by joining the attack, causing a 12-11 overload.

This has effectively shifted the potential for endless handpassing from defence to attack, as the "extra man" goalkeeper becomes an outlet for holding possession.

"I think one of the objectives of the FRC is that they wanted a more 'vertical' game," says Earley, "as opposed to a 'horizontal' game, which we were used to in recent years".

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"If that is a stated aim or stated goal, then having the goalkeeper come up and get involved in the game past the halfway line, doesn't facilitate that. In fact, it facilitates the more horizontal game.



"I've heard a couple of people and maybe a couple of coaches as well say, 'look, the game is so fast now that we need periods of slow play to kind of balance it', but the referee has a role that there are various stoppages in the game anyway – you know, players can take a breather if there are injuries or if the clock is stopping for subs and whatnot."

Another factor in the decline of kick passing is the new "solo and go" provision, allowing players to take off on being awarded a free with a buffer zone of four metres. That doesn't count as a kick.

Earley says precise comparisons can't be made between the current league and the 2023 and '24 figures– which is based on championship fixtures – because the data that stripped out frees from kick passes wasn't gathered in the previous years.


"I noticed in the statistical evidence they had the kick pass 'including frees' ratio, which was the same. They had the kick pass in open play ratio but they didn't have data for that from the last couple of years compared it against. That would have been the interesting one."

Earley is in agreement with the complaints of some managers on two issues, red-card and black-card punishments and the number of replacements that teams should be allowed to make.


Teams losing a player for disciplinary reasons are allowed to "borrow" someone from their 3v3 structure, which effectively allows them to mitigate their penalty.

"That's maybe one of the unintended consequences," he says. "I'm sure they've looked at all of that but when you look at it, it doesn't really punish the offending team.

"It should give an advantage obviously to the opposition when they're a man up or two men up. The bulk of the game has been played between the two 45-metre lines so having a numerical advantage there would be significant. So, if you lose a player, you just have to keep your 3v3 up, which means you're down a player in the central area."

Kerry's David Clifford is black carded by match referee Paddy Neilan. Paul Earley agrees with the complaints of some managers on two issues, red-card and black-card punishments and the number of replacements that teams should be allowed to make. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho
Kerry's David Clifford is black carded by match referee Paddy Neilan. Paul Earley agrees with the complaints of some managers on two issues, red-card and black-card punishments and the number of replacements that teams should be allowed to make. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty/Inpho
He would also allow more than the permitted five replacements but restrict the opportunity to bring them on to the field.

"I would go with six or seven subs and have maybe three occasions in each half when they can come on, other than for injuries."

He would also consult regularly with referees because of the increased physical demands on them, which creates mental fatigue affecting decision-making, particularly at the end of matches, and he favours video assistance in top intercounty matches.


"Soccer has it; rugby has it. It's not a big extension to move it to championship football and the GAA."

Whereas he acknowledges the positive impact on long-range shooting of the two-point score for kicks beyond 40 metres, Earley doesn't believe frees should come into that category.

"I would only give the two points from open play. Now the question is, does that encourage fouling outside? I'm not sure if it would because you foul outside, then you give a foul away, then with the solo and goal you're almost giving the guy a free run inside. So, I think two pointers should only be for open play."

[Milltown Row2]

Fair points, I wonder will they let us know before season starts in two weeks

[SpeculativeEffort]

Are these rules actually improving things? It feels like the more you change, the more needs changing. I'm getting weary of reading and hearing about rule changes. Will supporter rule fatigue drive ppl (like me) away from the game? Will the game even be recognisable when they are finished?

[Minus15]

I think it was clear that the game needed change. There are a few things that I like and some that I don't but looking at it as the beginning of a trial / journey to come up with something that we can all sign up to and work to at all levels. Might take a few years, but do we have a few years or is there a finite amount of time on any changes being final?

[thewobbler]

I'd agree Minus15.

There's some strange things going on and there's unintended consequences ahead.

But the balance of possession vs territory seems to be tilting back towards neutral again. I don't think it has to be exactly neutral or even close, but it was so in favour of possession the past decade that the game was too coachable, and therefore too monotonous.

Let the FRC at it. We will never have a perfect game - no sport has - but we will have a more enjoyable one.

——

Once upon a time it was illegal to carry the ball in Gaelic Football.

Then we started bouncing it every 4 yards.

Then about 40 years later we started toe tapping.

Much as i do think the new rules are going to be onerous for referees, I think it's probably a minor adjustment compared to what the men in the middle had to adapt to in the 1900s and 1940s!

[DuffleKing]

For the 1% club that's fine

For the riff raff ordinary joes of the world we'll stick with the two watches

This schtick is getting old. Everyone is a club official, player, ref, etc.

Not sure why you want to constantly point at the county game as if those involved are insulated from the implications of the new rules at club level.

[Milltown Row2]

For the 1% club that's fine

For the riff raff ordinary joes of the world we'll stick with the two watches

This schtick is getting old. Everyone is a club official, player, ref, .

Not sure why you want to constantly point at the county game as if those involved are insulated from the implications of the new rules at club level.

Because these rules we are talking about the ref's that are doing at county games have the help of 8 other officials

The rules were set out with county games as their core thinking

It's easier to manage within a county ground and a hell of a lot safer

Only a couple of years ago a ref was stabbed ( by a poster on here) because he disagreed with how it was officiated.

These rules won't make decisions simpler for one ref to manage

I don't think the group has thought that out for the other 99% of games

If your sick of it I'm sorry

[DuffleKing]

You keep making this same point ad nauseum despite everyone totally agreeing with it and being fully aware of it anyway.