Possible Rule changes

[blewuporstuffed]

one really simple rule change I would bring is is that you cant tackle a player that isn't on his feet.
The amount of times we see a player pull of a great high catch under pressure and end up going to ground only to be swarmed and battered by the opposition and then get blown up for over carrying when in reality he had no chance of being able to get up again or play the ball.
I would make it that if player isn't on his feet any attempt to tackle is a foul. once he is back up he is fair game again.

[blewuporstuffed]

This was voted  number one in the ' Top 20 GAA moments ' a few years ago.
Now , I don't agree that it is, but it is a fantastic passage of play all the same,  which involves predominantly hand passing and great support play to work a score. (there is even a kick pass in there to keep Rossfan happy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU

[Rossfan]

At least it was forward moving and at pace.
Not like two bad club teams throwing the ball at walking pace sideways and backwards as infinitum.
Plenty of bad County teams at the same of course.

[blewuporstuffed]

Howabout implementing a rule, as in 7's football, of no backwards handpassing in your own half. Relatively easy to referee in comparison to counting number of passes. It would also encourage teams to pressure the ball carrier coming out of defence high up the field.

Eliminating the practice of more than one player tackling at a time should also be enforced. At the minute it appears to be allowable for a number of players to put their hands on the player with the ball, which is an illegal tackle according to the existing rules. It inevitably appears to result in an overcarrying penalty for the player in possession, in contrast to when a player is being tackled 1 on 1 when any contact whatsoever is deemed a foul in favour of the attacking player. A more robust enforcement of mutilpe tacklers and a less strict interpretation of the 1 on 1 tackle might result in less massed defenders and more scope for flair players to do their thing.

The 20 metre kickout has merit too.

PS Haven't read all of the thread, so if someone else has posted similar my apologies.

re: the first bit ,I don't believe it is.

re: the second sentence, I think there might be some merit in that.


As an aside, players are rarely blown up for over carrying when in full flow, being tackled 1 v1 , no matter how many steps they take, its usually only when they have been stopped and surrounded by a couple of defenders that they are blown for over carrying, and usually in far less time/ steps than seem to be allowed in the first scenario.

[DuffleKing]

Everything is an illegal tackle strictly by the letter of the law.

What has been arrived at as an acceptable tackle is the result of convention and imitation

[Keyser soze]

Any contact with another player other than shoulder to shoulder is deemed an illegal tackle and should result in a foul. I think.

In the good old days a 2 man tackle would have automatically resulted in a foul. This seemed to change around 2003 when Tyrone perfected swarm tackling.

[Main Street]

There's just so much messing around with the hand pass rule for years and still it's ugly, worst of all is slapping the ball to score a goal.  Ditch it altogether and restore the fist only pass (apart from the foot pass).
Such a simple rule, the ball can be passed by hitting it with a closed fist.
Micko can live with that.

[Rossfan]

Well said Main St.
They don't even slap the ball for those volleyball goals - more a controlled push.

[PAULD123]

From reading all the comments on here I would favour two changes:

1. Sin bin - This is a punishment for the player creating the foul AND for the team. It gives an advantage to the opposition as a benefit for being fouled against. In contradiction to this, a yellow card immediately punishes neither player nor team for a foul (though may make him think twice about another foul) and black card punishes the player but not necessarily the team if they have a deep squad

2. Mark between 45's - I saw this in the National League in 2010. I thought it worked great. Then it was dropped without fair consideration. Personally I thought it speeded up games.

My theory/observations on the mark in 2010:

• Currently if a player catches and is fouled it is a free and the game stops anyway (so no change there)
• Currently if a player catches and is then swarmed the momentum is lost and the play is slowed down
• With the mark if a catch is made the free is automatically awarded. The player can take it quick so no need to stop play at all. The net effect is really just making opposition players clear away (thus no swarming and slowing down play)
• If the player is swarmed and prevented from taking it quick then the free is automatically brought forward to what will be then a likely point-scoring position.
• The whole advantage of the mark is to have the ball in hand with a  a clear opportunity to kick pass fast into teh forwards

Perhaps to ensure its aim some supplemental rules could be added:
1. Only the player gaining the mark may accept it and play the free (no changing free takers)
2. If the player accepts the free then he must only kick pass forward, not back
3. If he accepts the free then he must play it within 3 seconds or it goes to hop ball

[blewuporstuffed]

At least it was forward moving and at pace.
Not like two bad club teams throwing the ball at walking pace sideways and backwards as infinitum.
Plenty of bad County teams at the same of course.

The same could be said about kick passing.
Fantastic when it is executed correctly. quick ,direct, accurate ball into a moving forward line is fantastic to watch.
Hoof ball where the man gets it and gets rid as early as possible and as far up the field as he can, there is probably nothing worse to watch.

[Rossfan]

Have your forwards in place to contest the kick into the attacking area if it's not delivered accurately enough. Have some Gaelic footballers on your team who have practised catching and kicking instead of running and throwing.
As for the mark - needs the option of taking the free or playing on with the player giving some signal.

[Croí na hÉireann]

From reading all the comments on here I would favour two changes:

1. Sin bin - This is a punishment for the player creating the foul AND for the team. It gives an advantage to the opposition as a benefit for being fouled against. In contradiction to this, a yellow card immediately punishes neither player nor team for a foul (though may make him think twice about another foul) and black card punishes the player but not necessarily the team if they have a deep squad

2. Mark between 45's - I saw this in the National League in 2010. I thought it worked great. Then it was dropped without fair consideration. Personally I thought it speeded up games.

My theory/observations on the mark in 2010:

• Currently if a player catches and is fouled it is a free and the game stops anyway (so no change there)
• Currently if a player catches and is then swarmed the momentum is lost and the play is slowed down
• With the mark if a catch is made the free is automatically awarded. The player can take it quick so no need to stop play at all. The net effect is really just making opposition players clear away (thus no swarming and slowing down play)
• If the player is swarmed and prevented from taking it quick then the free is automatically brought forward to what will be then a likely point-scoring position.
• The whole advantage of the mark is to have the ball in hand with a  a clear opportunity to kick pass fast into teh forwards

Perhaps to ensure its aim some supplemental rules could be added:
1. Only the player gaining the mark may accept it and play the free (no changing free takers)
2. If the player accepts the free then he must only kick pass forward, not back
3. If he accepts the free then he must play it within 3 seconds or it goes to hop ball

What now?

[LeoMc]

Well said Main St.
They don't even slap the ball for those volleyball goals - more a controlled push.

I think that is what Quigley did in the Dublin game.

[Syferus]

I have no issues with a team cutting a defence open and getting a tap in goal. There's too much in football that a defender or keeper can do to fûck over the attacker if he has to catch, control and then kick the ball in those situations that all you'd achieve is punishing the team trying to play positively. Anything that makes it harder to use cynical defensive tactics is a good thing.

[blewuporstuffed]

How about referees applying the rules there at the minute? Only one tackler allowed at a time? The swarm tackle - applied by most but perfected by Tyrone - in a lot of cases is a foul as the player in possession is physically tackled by more than one person at a time. It takes a lot of discipline by the tackling team to ensure only one tackle at a time goes in.

How many times do you see a referee blowing up and you just haven't a clue which way the free is to go - to the player who was executed the high catch and upon landing is swarmed and wins a free due to this rule - or as the case more often is - he is blown up for over carrying.

High fielding is a magnificent skill in our game but is being lost to the swarm!!

Does it actually say in the rule book that this is a foul?