The State Of Gaelic Football

[AZOffaly]

I agree to an extent Benny. I think the issue we may see as (if) this continues to spread is there will be less scope to counter attack as other teams leave men at home. Dublin v Donegal was probably the ideal game for a blanket theorist. Dublin attacked in waves, and as each attack was repulsed Donegal burned them with speedy counter attacks against an undermanned rearguard. Result = Devastation for Dublin.

The final was the halfway house which made it a poor game to watch, but gave Kerry a good chance to beat it. They set up normally, kept their half backs at home when they attacked, even though there was no Donegal player in the parish, and were already in place to cut off counter attacks before they could do damage. They also funnelled their half forwards back after the turnover to supplement the traditional 6. Having 6 men back when you are attacking, marking 1 or 2 Donegal lads looks defensive, but is perfectly sensible and pragmatic.

The nightmare scenario for a spectacle is when both sides line out with withdrawn half forwards and full forwards leaving only one or two in the opponents half. This leads to the defenses completely outnumbering the attackers, on both sides, and counter attacks fading to nothing like a wave washing up on a sandy shore. Jerome posted some schools game up north recently and it was putrid. I think one team held the ball, going back and forward, for something like 3 and half minutes before they finally lost it.

[BennyHarp]

I agree to an extent Benny. I think the issue we may see as (if) this continues to spread is there will be less scope to counter attack as other teams leave men at home. Dublin v Donegal was probably the ideal game for a blanket theorist. Dublin attacked in waves, and as each attack was repulsed Donegal burned them with speedy counter attacks against an undermanned rearguard. Result = Devastation for Dublin.

The final was the halfway house which made it a poor game to watch, but gave Kerry a good chance to beat it. They set up normally, kept their half backs at home when they attacked, even though there was no Donegal player in the parish, and were already in place to cut off counter attacks before they could do damage. They also funnelled their half forwards back after the turnover to supplement the traditional 6. Having 6 men back when you are attacking, marking 1 or 2 Donegal lads looks defensive, but is perfectly sensible and pragmatic.

The nightmare scenario for a spectacle is when both sides line out with withdrawn half forwards and full forwards leaving only one or two in the opponents half. This leads to the defenses completely outnumbering the attackers, on both sides, and counter attacks fading to nothing like a wave washing up on a sandy shore. Jerome posted some schools game up north recently and it was putrid. I think one team held the ball, going back and forward, for something like 3 and half minutes before they finally lost it.

I agree AZ and the biggest problem is that this being encouraged at school level and underage where stifling the opponent has become the main tactic. What you refer in Jerome's post is at schools level the kids don't have the tactical or positional sense to know when or how to break forward in numbers. This is the difficult part of a defensive system, the easy thing to do is just funnel everyone back, hence we have some putrid games, especially at club level. Kerry are leading the way with tactics to overcome this and attacking the wings, hugging the sideline and moving the ball quickly across the front if the blanket looking for an opening to attack, seems to be the way forward.

[Zulu]

The blanket (for want of a better word), in my opinion, if carried out correctly will indeed reduce fouls by filling spaces so attacking players don't even venture into that area, reduces the need for tackling and therefore potential fouls. Tyrone's foul count during this league for example has been very low. The key to the whole system is attacking in numbers at pace, which is the aspect of the blanket that most teams haven't perfected yet. Donegals goal v Mayo at the weekend in my opinion was an example of this at its best, who cares if the ball isn't kicked. (1min 7secs in) http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/0804151023-video-allianz-league-superscores-week-10/

Also, some the long range points on display in that video last weekend are superb. Maybe teams are working on this, if this becomes a bigger feature if our game as a result of the "blanket" then I'm all for it.

While I'd agree with you to a point, I do care if there is no kicking in football. AZ has posted a lot of things I agree with, the issue isn't simply if a game is good or bad but how football is developing as a sport. I enjoyed the Tyrone Kerry game last weekend and there were some magnificent scores in the game but even then you could see the seeds of a game is going down a worrying path. On more than one occasion the teams attacked unhindered to past the halfway line and then it turned into rugby with the ball going across the field back and forth until a deep runner 'broke the line'.

Likewise I was struck by how similar some attacks in the Tyrone/Kerry game and Mayo/Donegal were, with 40/50 yard passes backwards when teams were having difficulty breaking their opponents defensive lines. At one point in the Mayo game a long ball kicked back to Lee Keegan went over his head and after he went back to pick it up he failed initially so had to pick it the second time. As we watched this at no point could you see a Donegal man on the screen. I think we have to be worried about that trend. Yes, there were long balls into the full forward line too (Cavanagh and Donaghy spring to mind) but there was a definite trend to both games of short quickest, minimal defending high up and rugby style attacking in the final third. If the quality of scoring in Omagh wasn't so high it could have been an awful game too.

[fearglasmor]

I learned my football through the 70's and 80's when Gaelic Football was predominantly a man to man game where the primary emphasis was to deliver fast accurate ball into your forwards who were expected to get out in front and win their own ball. The only defensive tactic we ever employed apart from man to man marking was if we were playing against a wind in the second half and had something to defend,  we brought a corner forward back to play sweeper between full and half back lines.

The only other sport I see with a similar nature to this now is Aussie Rules. Looking at gaelic football now it seems to have much more in common with rugby than anything else. When defending having 13 players behind the ball with tackling being done by at least 3 defenders to the man in possession and when in possession moving the ball laterally until you find an opportunity to break the defensive line and get a score.

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

[blewuporstuffed]

The pitch would be alot bigger for a satrt which would make it more difficult

[Zulu]

I learned my football through the 70's and 80's when Gaelic Football was predominantly a man to man game where the primary emphasis was to deliver fast accurate ball into your forwards who were expected to get out in front and win their own ball. The only defensive tactic we ever employed apart from man to man marking was if we were playing against a wind in the second half and had something to defend,  we brought a corner forward back to play sweeper between full and half back lines.

The only other sport I see with a similar nature to this now is Aussie Rules. Looking at gaelic football now it seems to have much more in common with rugby than anything else. When defending having 13 players behind the ball with tackling being done by at least 3 defenders to the man in possession and when in possession moving the ball laterally until you find an opportunity to break the defensive line and get a score.

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

Pretty sure I read an article which said they did go through something similar for a while. I'll try to find it as I can't remember if there were rule changes or whether it was proving ultimately ineffective.

[orangeman]

Tyrone and Donegal played today and it finished 4-13 a piece. And hardly a word about it.

[Ohtoohtobe]

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

I live in Australia and watch a fair bit. Scoring rates are far down on what they used to be and some games turn into a terrible rolling maul where scores are at a premium and 15 men are back for both sides.

The difference is that they don't use the odd bad game to destroy their sport's image because they don't have a couple of loudmouth pundits determined to make a name for themselves.

Gaelic football is the only sport I know of that is subject to this. There are boring games in soccer, rugby and AFL but people can write them off for what they are - the odd boring game.

In Australia they know they're in a battle with other codes and leap at every opportunity for self-promotion. To me Gaelic football is an infinitely superior watch to any of the three sports I've mentioned and yet everyone is talking about it like it's on its death bed.

The reality is that there are more classic games every summer now than any time I can remember with the possible exceptions of the mid-2000s. Watch Dublin-Donegal or Kerry-Mayo last year or Kerry-Dublin 2013. Then tell me which games from 1980-1995 you thought were better. What do people want from football? Every game to be 2-20 each?

[manfromdelmonte]

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

I live in Australia and watch a fair bit. Scoring rates are far down on what they used to be and some games turn into a terrible rolling maul where scores are at a premium and 15 men are back for both sides.

The difference is that they don't use the odd bad game to destroy their sport's image because they don't have a couple of loudmouth pundits determined to make a name for themselves.

Gaelic football is the only sport I know of that is subject to this. There are boring games in soccer, rugby and AFL but people can write them off for what they are - the odd boring game.

In Australia they know they're in a battle with other codes and leap at every opportunity for self-promotion. To me Gaelic football is an infinitely superior watch to any of the three sports I've mentioned and yet everyone is talking about it like it's on its death bed.

The reality is that there are more classic games every summer now than any time I can remember with the possible exceptions of the mid-2000s. Watch Dublin-Donegal or Kerry-Mayo last year or Kerry-Dublin 2013. Then tell me which games from 1980-1995 you thought were better. What do people want from football? Every game to be 2-20 each?

Good post.

Gaelic football's biggest rival for crowds is hurling.
So negative comment doesn't really drive crowds to another sport.
Rugby is not a competitor for the majority of counties and neither is soccer.
Would I be right in saying that the AFL has much more control over media issues than the GAA?
Eg pundits, managers, players

There is very little insightful punditry in the GAA that does an indepth analysis of games. English soccer also has the same problem.
If you read papers in Italy, Spain or the USA the sports writers will really breakdown games and teams and explain what coaches and players were doing.
The same with tb shows. But they don't tend to cast judgement on the tactics usef

[redzone]

mnf on sky sports with carragher and Neville are really  good at analysis.other than that its generally rubbish

[blewuporstuffed]

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

I live in Australia and watch a fair bit. Scoring rates are far down on what they used to be and some games turn into a terrible rolling maul where scores are at a premium and 15 men are back for both sides.

The difference is that they don't use the odd bad game to destroy their sport's image because they don't have a couple of loudmouth pundits determined to make a name for themselves.

Gaelic football is the only sport I know of that is subject to this. There are boring games in soccer, rugby and AFL but people can write them off for what they are - the odd boring game.

In Australia they know they're in a battle with other codes and leap at every opportunity for self-promotion. To me Gaelic football is an infinitely superior watch to any of the three sports I've mentioned and yet everyone is talking about it like it's on its death bed.

The reality is that there are more classic games every summer now than any time I can remember with the possible exceptions of the mid-2000s. Watch Dublin-Donegal or Kerry-Mayo last year or Kerry-Dublin 2013. Then tell me which games from 1980-1995 you thought were better. What do people want from football? Every game to be 2-20 each?

Very Good post.

[From the Bunker]

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

I live in Australia and watch a fair bit. Scoring rates are far down on what they used to be and some games turn into a terrible rolling maul where scores are at a premium and 15 men are back for both sides.

The difference is that they don't use the odd bad game to destroy their sport's image because they don't have a couple of loudmouth pundits determined to make a name for themselves.

Gaelic football is the only sport I know of that is subject to this. There are boring games in soccer, rugby and AFL but people can write them off for what they are - the odd boring game.

In Australia they know they're in a battle with other codes and leap at every opportunity for self-promotion. To me Gaelic football is an infinitely superior watch to any of the three sports I've mentioned and yet everyone is talking about it like it's on its death bed.

The reality is that there are more classic games every summer now than any time I can remember with the possible exceptions of the mid-2000s. Watch Dublin-Donegal or Kerry-Mayo last year or Kerry-Dublin 2013. Then tell me which games from 1980-1995 you thought were better. What do people want from football? Every game to be 2-20 each?

Good post.

Gaelic football's biggest rival for crowds is hurling.
So negative comment doesn't really drive crowds to another sport.
Rugby is not a competitor for the majority of counties and neither is soccer.
Would I be right in saying that the AFL has much more control over media issues than the GAA?
Eg pundits, managers, players

There is very little insightful punditry in the GAA that does an indepth analysis of games. English soccer also has the same problem.
If you read papers in Italy, Spain or the USA the sports writers will really breakdown games and teams and explain what coaches and players were doing.
The same with tb shows. But they don't tend to cast judgement on the tactics usef

Clearly you are not from Ulster, Connacht or North Leinster. Hurling the biggest rival for crowds to Football. That made me laugh!

[theskull1]

So we're saying that we need to commoditise the sport more and with that include the punditry within the productisation of the game. Oh that would be class. 

Plastic paddies everywhere

[manfromdelmonte]

Does anyone who watches a lot of Aussie Rules know if they employ anything like the blanket defence that is so popular now in GF. If not, what is it about AR that makes a blanket defence ineffective ?

I live in Australia and watch a fair bit. Scoring rates are far down on what they used to be and some games turn into a terrible rolling maul where scores are at a premium and 15 men are back for both sides.

The difference is that they don't use the odd bad game to destroy their sport's image because they don't have a couple of loudmouth pundits determined to make a name for themselves.

Gaelic football is the only sport I know of that is subject to this. There are boring games in soccer, rugby and AFL but people can write them off for what they are - the odd boring game.

In Australia they know they're in a battle with other codes and leap at every opportunity for self-promotion. To me Gaelic football is an infinitely superior watch to any of the three sports I've mentioned and yet everyone is talking about it like it's on its death bed.

The reality is that there are more classic games every summer now than any time I can remember with the possible exceptions of the mid-2000s. Watch Dublin-Donegal or Kerry-Mayo last year or Kerry-Dublin 2013. Then tell me which games from 1980-1995 you thought were better. What do people want from football? Every game to be 2-20 each?

Good post.

Gaelic football's biggest rival for crowds is hurling.
So negative comment doesn't really drive crowds to another sport.
Rugby is not a competitor for the majority of counties and neither is soccer.
Would I be right in saying that the AFL has much more control over media issues than the GAA?
Eg pundits, managers, players

There is very little insightful punditry in the GAA that does an indepth analysis of games. English soccer also has the same problem.
If you read papers in Italy, Spain or the USA the sports writers will really breakdown games and teams and explain what coaches and players were doing.
The same with tb shows. But they don't tend to cast judgement on the tactics usef

Clearly you are not from Ulster, Connacht or North Leinster. Hurling the biggest rival for crowds to Football. That made me laugh!

Most GAA people don't go near rugby or soccer games

[Zulu]

Are you nuts? There's a huge crossover between GAA and rugby/soccer fans.