Player surrounded. How do you get out of that?

[Zapatista]

you can't score 3-14 if you are defending all the time.

It's the best form of defence

[Abble]

i'm talking first and foremost about players who make a big catch here (liken it to the mark if you want in aussies rules, all i'm suggesting is that no more than one man should be allowed to put in a challenge on that player - the high catch is the whole ethos of gaelic football, its what makes our game great to watch, its what i want to see when i pay in to watch the best players playing gaelic).

the point some are trying to make is that if 4 men are surrounding 1 man then there should be 3 other free men available to him. what sort of a pass can he make in that situation, sure he cant even stretch out his arm to handpass it. its too easy to pounce on a man as he's landing afer making a fine catch....so you think he should be penalised because he cant make a pass with 4 men on him ?!

[Zapatista]

i'm talking first and foremost about players who make a big catch here (liken it to the mark if you want in aussies rules, all i'm suggesting is that no more than one man should be allowed to put in a challenge on that player - the high catch is the whole ethos of gaelic football, its what makes our game great to watch, its what i want to see when i pay in to watch the best players playing gaelic).

the point some are trying to make is that if 4 men are surrounding 1 man then there should be 3 other free men available to him. what sort of a pass can he make in that situation, sure he cant even stretch out his arm to handpass it. its too easy to pounce on a man as he's landing afer making a fine catch....so you think he should be penalised because he cant make a pass with 4 men on him ?!

You are starved of good football if you think it boils down to great catches.

The catch is still a great part of the game and will continue to be. Any player who is a great fielder of a ball is automatically at an advantage no matter how it is defended against.

[Abble]

why is it i am continuously saying to myelf, "that hurling game today was brilliant", "that was a poor game of football" ?

the hurling is free flowing, end to end stuff
we see v little of that in football.

something needs to be done.....i'll be honest here and say here now that if my county team were part of a fantastic game of football and lost i'd be happy.....if they part of a brutal game of football and won i'd be feeling alright.


yous know yourselves that the end to end stuff and a proper quality football is what we want to see.....

there are plenty of techincal areas within the game that can be improved on but i dont think this all-out defence tactic can continue.
fair enough there are situations in general play where a player does get himself tied up and the other team should take advantage of that...

what i think should be done is something to help more freedom of movement for a player who fields a good ball.

i dont know.....its each to their own....but i know that if the defensive tactic does get any worse than it is now, i'll not be goin to many more games

[Zulu]

i'm talking first and foremost about players who make a big catch here (liken it to the mark if you want in aussies rules, all i'm suggesting is that no more than one man should be allowed to put in a challenge on that player - the high catch is the whole ethos of gaelic football, its what makes our game great to watch, its what i want to see when i pay in to watch the best players playing gaelic).

the point some are trying to make is that if 4 men are surrounding 1 man then there should be 3 other free men available to him. what sort of a pass can he make in that situation, sure he cant even stretch out his arm to handpass it. its too easy to pounce on a man as he's landing afer making a fine catch....so you think he should be penalised because he cant make a pass with 4 men on him ?!

I agree 100% with you Abble, the high catch is a skill that should be rewarded on the field of play not penalised. And while refs now generally give the fielder a free I think it would be worth experimenting with the 'mark' for a clean catch from a kickout.

[Zulu]

why is it i am continuously saying to myelf, "that hurling game today was brilliant", "that was a poor game of football" ?

the hurling is free flowing, end to end stuff
we see v little of that in football.

something needs to be done.....i'll be honest here and say here now that if my county team were part of a fantastic game of football and lost i'd be happy.....if they part of a brutal game of football and won i'd be feeling alright.


yous know yourselves that the end to end stuff and a proper quality football is what we want to see.....

there are plenty of techincal areas within the game that can be improved on but i dont think this all-out defence tactic can continue.
fair enough there are situations in general play where a player does get himself tied up and the other team should take advantage of that...

what i think should be done is something to help more freedom of movement for a player who fields a good ball.

i dont know.....its each to their own....but i know that if the defensive tactic does get any worse than it is now, i'll not be goin to many more games

Once more we find ourselves in agreement Abble, a few years ago rugby changed a number of rules to make the game more free flowing and it has made the game far more entertaining, as anyone who watches rugby gold on Tg4 will vouch for. Good defending is great to see but simply getting everyone behind the ball to suffocate an attacking team is not great defending and can make some football games difficult to watch.

[Zapatista]

why is it i am continuously saying to myelf, "that hurling game today was brilliant", "that was a poor game of football" ?

Prob because you are a hurling fan rather than a football fan. I say it about many sports. I would rather watch football than the Olympics as I am a football fan.

the hurling is free flowing, end to end stuff
we see v little of that in football.

Hurling is that. It is very different to football. The ball alone should show that. It is very different catching a ball with one hand and fireing it 70 yards up the field for forwards to scramble for than to catch a bigger ball with two hands and actually need the time to find the best place to put it. If a football made a great catch and turned to thump it 50 yards up the field in the hope that his forwards would win it he would be a poor footballer.

something needs to be done.....i'll be honest here and say here now that if my county team were part of a fantastic game of football and lost i'd be happy.....if they part of a brutal game of football and won i'd be feeling alright.

I do not share your priorities. If they always played brutal football I might think different but my county often play fantastic football and win.

yous know yourselves that the end to end stuff and a proper quality football is what we want to see.....

there are plenty of techincal areas within the game that can be improved on but i dont think this all-out defence tactic can continue.
fair enough there are situations in general play where a player does get himself tied up and the other team should take advantage of that...

what i think should be done is something to help more freedom of movement for a player who fields a good ball.

i dont know.....its each to their own....but i know that if the defensive tactic does get any worse than it is now, i'll not be goin to many more games

Perhaps we should widen the post to reduce wides or remove gaol keepers to increase goals?  Or if a player beats 3 defenders all other play should stop to make sure he finishes with a score? Leave the game alone. High fielding is a grat part of the sport (and an advantage to those who do it well) and so is defending against it.

[feetofflames]

This is ridiculous answering some of you twats but heres my solution and my only solution.  That the charging rule in Garlic Games is done away with.  You cant lead with the elbow but you can walk out with her, and walk over anyone wjo stands in your road, would solve a lot of the 3rd man tackling too. 

[Zulu]

This is ridiculous answering some of you t**ts but heres my solution and my only solution

So people who don't share your opinion are t**ts, is that it feetofflames? While I don't agree with Abbles assertion that most hurling games are fantastic, in fact many hurling games this year have been very poor but hurling is being reffed in such a way as to encourage a more free flowing game. Football is not being reffed in the same way and the tactics that many teams are now employing results in more fouls and fewer decent scoring chances. Football will find it hard to grow in non-traditional areas if those people can't even sit down and watch the game at the top level. This 'it's all about winning' argument is bullshit, sport always has to be about more than just winning otherwise it will become a soulless experience.

[Maiden1]

Tyrone beat Dublin off the park.  With great scores and great passing and movemnet.  There was hardly any 3rd man tackling in the game and the refs DO normally give the free to the forward if there is a 3rd man tackle and they are moving forward, they where just better at shooting, passing, blocking, handling.  Any criticism is just jealousy.  The only way some people on this foum would be happy is for the northern team to be beaten by the southern team.  Nothing else.  No matter if Tyrone scored 200 points in the match there would still be peole complaining about there negative tactics.  Negative tactics = good defending.  Ultimately every coaches objective is for there team to score a bucket load (good shooting) and there defenders to stop the forwards from scoring (good defending).  Tyrone mastered both in this game.

[Zapatista]

Not to mention only 1 score from a free.

I'd like to see Dara and Donaghey stop trying to catch the ball as they are left at a disavantage becuase of it. I love to see how many games Kerry win with such a tactic.

[supersarsfields]

To be honest I think in the majority, refs give a free to the person with the ball. Which is fair enough. But I don't agree that just because a couple of players gather around a player there should be an automatic free. To me this wouldn't help the game either as it would encourage players to run into tackles rather than moving a swift ball at distance.
I mean have we really seen that much of the "swarming" around players this year? I can remember only a couple of instances with Tyrone. So it's not as if it's epidemic.

If a mark was introduced I don't know if it would be have that big an effect. The majority of balls from kickouts are broken down anyway rather than this idea of catching the ball and then getting bottled up. So for me these clean catches only happen a few times each game and won't stop the bottling of the broken ball anyway. So I can't see them having that big an impact if introduced.

[Yes I Would]

The ability of players all over the park, to get to the area of the play and cover space without needless fouling should be applauded.
Shows great hunger, fitness and discipline.

Completely legitimate aspect of team play which should encourage the player in possession to act quicker with the ball, ultimately speeding up the tempo of a game.

[blanketattack]

Would the teammates of the player who's surrounded be allowed go in and shoulder some of the surrounding players out of the way?

[Yes I Would]

Cant see why not, as long as its legitimate shoulder to shoulder.
Positioning of 3/4 defending players around the man in possession often leaves it difficult for a square on shoulder tackle to be executed.