The official overcarrying thread

[Denn Forever]

At least once?

Who'd be a referee.


I don't suppose the ref counts the steps , I'd say he uses the maxim "it hust looks as if he must have over carried".  I'm happy with that.

[magpie seanie]

Have we ever seen anyone penalised for overcarrying in the wrong i.e. when they took 4 or less steps? Probably never happened in the history of the GAA!!!! I've said it for years  - the game would be totally different (and better in my view) if the 4 steps rule was implemented in any way close to correctly.

[Donnellys Hollow]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E1MvfCIlXA

[magpie seanie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E1MvfCIlXA

10 is a very conservative appraisal of that!!!!

[AZOffaly]

That was about 14 steps! I'm just surprise Martin made it 14 steps without diving to the ground looking for a free!

[Dinny Breen]

Half of Wicklow hanging out of him, barely the 5 steps.

[AZOffaly]

Sad thing is the next video on You Tube that auto plays is Offaly v Kildare in 2006, 3-9 to 0-15 to Offaly. Jaysus it's been a brutal fall.

[Donnellys Hollow]

The day of the 6 subs! 

[AZOffaly]

Cutting us with switchblades ye were.

[twohands!!!]

Its one of the biggest problems in the game. Its not so much the steps themselves, but the ramifications. If the ref is going to allow a man as many steps as he wants to get round a defender, then a clean tackle is almost impossible.

Excellent point - young players are coached to focus the tackle on when the player is soloing/hopping - if a player doesn't do this, it makes tackling legitimately far far more difficult.

[theticklemister]

I counted the steps of Jamie Clarke and he took 5!!

[Whitnail]

It's a much bigger problem than blankets or and excessive handpassing
It's excruciating explaining the rulrs to foreigners when quite clearly they don't exist and are just broad basic guidelines.

Obviously the problem implenting it is a ref blowing his wistle every 10 seconds and  no-one wants that.... but how else is ever  gonna be addressed?

Imo it's also the biggest problem in the sport's development worldwide as people cant see it as a proper sport if it doesn't have proper rules.

Now American football is fussy , too fussy but the sport respects the rules and a player/team will be penalised if someone is judged to have farted at the wrong time.
People. in other countries unfortunately see Gaelige football as one of those "anything goes" sports that doesn't have actual rules that players even
feel the need to follow.


The first galway goal yesterday was a great goal but technically it wasn't a goal because the scorer broke the rules of the game.

If we're going to change the championship format, while we're at it, why not increase it to 5 steps & be done with it, re-define (clearly)the tackle , & employ some think tank crew(i don't know) to come up with a way of limiting  excessive handpassing regimes by forcing & rewarding players to kick the ball.

But I doubt anyone really wants that, not really, basically to the point that I've just wasted 10 mins of my life and will no doubt get attacked/raped/  by some deliverance style rednecks who won't and can't abide the thought of  change at any level.

Ah f**k it

[tiempo]

Have we ever seen anyone penalised for overcarrying in the wrong i.e. when they took 4 or less steps? Probably never happened in the history of the GAA!!!! I've said it for years  - the game would be totally different (and better in my view) if the 4 steps rule was implemented in any way close to correctly.

I saw this once in a game I played in growing up, referee was making the rules up as he went along as tends to happen.
The 4 steps rule is an enigma, if it was implemented to the letter of the law it would make the game unwatchable/ruin the game. It would fundamentally change the way the game is played, and in the interim (much like the black card) would cause absolute chaos.

I am currently coaching adult players to break the 4 steps rule. The referee has too much to monitor without counting every single step every time the ball changes possession. It's about timing, getting used to taking 7 or 8 steps as a norm and not looking guilty doing it, that is the biggest give away of all.

[highorlow]

Yes,looking like your not taking them is the trick. The dub mcmeinmen has this down to a fine art.

Jamie Clarke took 5 steps, then I think switched hands and off he went again, in fairness I think the ref was blinded in this instance and the little shuffle might have led the ref to have a doubt.

What I find baffling is that apart from Kevin McStay none of the pundits ever raise it as an issue.

[Itchy]

One of my pet hates is when a lad takes two steps, thinks about a hand pass or solo but decides against it and takes another step, then he gets pulled for over carrying. Yet if he handed thought about the hand pass or solo and just ran for 6/7 steps it would be grand.