The State Of Gaelic Football

[Zulu]

Ah Teo if you really think last years All Ireland final was a very good match you're so far gone you'll soon be Greece soccer fan! If last year's final was a very good match I've no doubt you'll consider this year a classic regardless of how God awful the rest of us think it is.

[Teo Lurley]

Armagh v Tyrone in the 00s wasn't in the same parish as what we've seen in the past couple of years.

Donegal have been apart of some classics also.

They have. Miles apart.

What teams are you talking about?

[Teo Lurley]

Ah Teo if you really think last years All Ireland final was a very good match you're so far gone you'll soon be Greece soccer fan! If last year's final was a very good match I've no doubt you'll consider this year a classic regardless of how God awful the rest of us think it is.

There'll only be 40,000 at the All Ireland final, I'll have a huge choice of seats to watch the classic unfold.

[AZOffaly]

Armagh v Tyrone in the 00s wasn't in the same parish as what we've seen in the past couple of years.

Donegal have been apart of some classics also.

They have. Miles apart.

What teams are you talking about?

Sorry, a lame attempt at a joke. You said Donegal had been 'apart' of some classics. I said they had been miles apart from classics.

I honestly can't think of a great game involving Donegal of the last few years off the top of my head. Maybe the semi final against Kerry was good. The Dublin game wasn't bad because of Dublin's kamikaze tactics. Not classics though.

[Teo Lurley]

Armagh v Tyrone in the 00s wasn't in the same parish as what we've seen in the past couple of years.

Donegal have been apart of some classics also.

They have. Miles apart.

What teams are you talking about?

Sorry, a lame attempt at a joke. You said Donegal had been 'apart' of some classics. I said they had been miles apart from classics.

I honestly can't think of a great game involving Donegal of the last few years off the top of my head. Maybe the semi final against Kerry was good. The Dublin game wasn't bad because of Dublin's kamikaze tactics. Not classics though.

Ach that was a good one!

Donegal v Tyrone was decent a few years back. A lot of their 2012 games were entertaining actually.

[antoinse]

On Saturday night last a major portion of the blame lay at Dublin's feet and hands. They took the wrong and mostly stupid options and showed themselves up to be poor decision makers - this is from a Dublin supporter. Derry did as expected, play behind the ball and break fast but their problem was that the had no  forward who could score from 30/40 yds. Their full forwards were dire in their shooting.
Perhaps it is time as said previously that referees blow for absolutely every foul. we can say what we like about tactics but if you do not have THINKING FOOTBALLERS on teams then you will also have the stuff we have now.

[The Raven]

A few simple solutions
1. All frees and sidelines to be kicked off ground
2. Maximum 2 fist passes in a row
3. Forwards must take frees in forward half, backs in defence
4. Kick outs resulting from goals and wides taken from 21yard line, points from 14yard line
5. All kickouts must cross the 50yard line

Worth a go couldn't be any worse than what we have now

[AZOffaly]

How would any of that affect someone's defensive tactic?

[Teo Lurley]

I think the rule book should handed over to the big counties. They can then change the rules when they don't like smaller counties making games difficult for them.

[AZOffaly]

I agree. Let them tell us what way it should be played. They do that anyway

[Jinxy]

There should be 7 points for a ball that bounces before it goes over the bar.

[AZOffaly]

And 8 points for a ball thrown over the line from a seated position.

[blewuporstuffed]

A few simple solutions
1. All frees and sidelines to be kicked off ground
2. Maximum 2 fist passes in a row
3. Forwards must take frees in forward half, backs in defence
4. Kick outs resulting from goals and wides taken from 21yard line, points from 14yard line
5. All kickouts must cross the 50yard line

Worth a go couldn't be any worse than what we have now

1. I dont see how this does anything other than slow the game down.
2.Very difficult to referee and doesnt really do anything to adress the issue of overly defensive strategies, if anything it will lead to alot more aimless kickpassing just to get rid of it.
3.Again and extra thing for the referee to implement, and Im not sure of the benefit (or even that it isnt predominently like that now anyway) What happens if a player starts the game at WHF but is switched to WHB or vice versa?
4.Not sure how there is any advantage in thiseither? its lieka cross between what we have now and the way teh kickouts used to be....
5.There may be some benefit to this, but only if there is some way of preventing teams just crowding the midfeild area.

Worth a go couldn't be any worse than what we have now

Thats the thing, changing rules just for the sake of it and we could indeed have something worse than the current game.
The ultra defensive game is a relatively new development (there was playing defesively before, but never to the extreme we have seen in ths NL campaign), I wouldnt panic just yet.
I would prefer we let the tactics evolve, than change the rules off the back of a few poor games.

[BennyHarp]

This time last year we were discussing how the black card had changed the game with record high scoring games etc. Smug black carders like Joe Brolly were telling us that they told us so and the game is some much better. What's the solution now? Keep changing the rules until it no longer resembles Gaelic football? (Although to be fair, some games recently don't resemble gaelic football)

By the way, you don't follow your county or club for entertainment, you follow your club and county because it hurts, because it is torture, because it is where you are from, because they are your mates out there, because it is painful to watch them most of the time whether they are playing defensively or not, because you like to moan about what they are doing wrong and how you could do better, because you hope that some day on maybe that one rare occasion they manage to pull off a result that makes you feel like you are top of the world - you soon forget that it was a shite game. So I don't buy into the entertainment putting people off - its the painfulness of it all that is the attraction. Bring on more turgid games - its the purgatory that we love. I shall be strapping the barbed wire to myself under my Tyrone top for the visit to Ballybofey in the a few weeks, bring it on!

[AZOffaly]

Benny, using the black card as a stick to beat those who are proposing rule changes is unfair. The Black card was brought into deal with cynical fouling, not legal, defensive, strategies. The performance of the black card is debatable, but it's a separate debate in my view.

As regards the pain etc, yes, I agree with you. I would much prefer Offaly to win a shit game that ended 0-3 to 0-2 than lose a cracker 4-15 to 3-12. But that's a very narrow, partisan view. The two protagonists in a given game would be a minority of the overall viewing public, especially on highlights or live TV. If all the games are shit, and the only ones getting any sort of buzz out of them are the two teams taking part in each game, then we are fucked.