What have they done to Gaelic football ?

[smcafee]

hardy and neilthemac,well done for suggesting something when all the tyronies and armanies think that nothing is wrong with how they play gaelic football.

i know you like to think your shit dont stink but lean a little closer and youll see your roses smell like poo.

[Hardy]

I fell like I've been adopted by The Addams Family.

[supersarsfields]

Your right about one thing. I have no problem with the way Tyrone are playing at all. The dublin game in particular being easy to watch.
I've never followed this line that Tyrone hand pass the ball up the pitch. Usualy when they turn play over or get the ball in Defence they'll handpass til a person is in room to play an accurate long ball. True they don't just get the ball and belt it up the pitch hoping for the forward to win his own ball. But I wouldn't want them to. There'd be nothing easy to watch about that.

[his holiness nb]

smcafee, you really are a bitter, jealous, twisted little fool . I do enjoy your litte rants though and I will miss them when you go back to school in a couple of weeks

a.im bitter,jealous and twisted because i agree with the journalist?

b.im too old for school.maybe youll miss these posts when you go back if your school blocks this board.

You go to school, no you go to school 

[Zapatista]

At the same time he has a point, compared to the hurling for all its lack of competitiveness is miles ahead of football in terms of skills, full-blooded commitment and entertainment. He never mentioned the diving in football as well.

He complained about winning the ball in defence and passing it out (sometimes across the goal line). If football defenders defended like hurlers it would be much worse viewing. Passing it out to keep possesion is much better than driving it down the field in hope.  Hurling is easier to defend imho.

[his holiness nb]

I agree, is it not better to be able to pick out a decent handpass from a crowded defence rather than just hoof the ball up the field?
Anyone can lash a ball out, not everyone has the presence of mind to stay calm and ensure their team keeps possession.

[Throw ball]

Neilthemac. If u8 coaches neglected to teach the handpass along with the other skills it would be a joke. Also at that age gaelic is an inclusive sport with children of all levels of abilities participating. They develop at different ages. If the handpass is not taught some will lose interest as they will never see the ball. Some of these may be late developers who will be lost to the game. Furthermore the better young players will not learn the team and social aspects of the game which help in life development as they will not pass as the other child cannot kick it back. The problem is not the handpass it is the fear of getting beat which causes many teams to funnell back and handpass the ball across the pitch. In many senior games players look like u8s chasing after the ball and not looking for the spaces for the pass. All elements of the game need to be taught and if the handpass helps children get an interest in the game and gives them the confidence to develop other aspects of the game then it is very useful.

[ONeill]

Tyrone's footpassing on Saturday was of the highest order - probably the best I've seen from them. Today's game is about economy of chances and possession as opposed to closing yer eyes and hoofing her of bygone years. That's why Meath are nowhere near to an All-Ireland.

[Leo]

Tyrone's footpassing on Saturday was of the highest order - probably the best I've seen from them. Today's game is about economy of chances and possession as opposed to closing yer eyes and hoofing her of bygone years. That's why Meath are nowhere near to an All-Ireland.

O'Neill you are right about the level and standard of foot passing on Saturday and indeed it was a joy to watch. Why? Because it is so rare today.
Why is it so rare today? Because every team is consumed by "possession" and the handpass. So your post is a good argument for curtailing the handpass. It is stupid of other posters to say the alterntive to handpassing is carch and kick (aimlessly). Accurate foot passing as Tyrone did last week and as demonstrated effectively by Down in 91 & 94 is fabulous and will win All-Irelands. Get the coaches teaching that from U12 upwards and we will restore the game.

Restrict the handpass to 3 in succession - result? - eventually coaches will coach to favour use of the foot (it is football, lads)  & avoid committing fouls by over use of the handpass.
Restrict the number of players in a tackle - a 3rd player joining in is a free -- result? - end of blanket defence.
Give play advantage to a highfielding player - result? - restore this diminishing skill.
And yes, fitness is an issue - we have 30 players now super fit to 21st century standards playing on a pitch of 19th century dimensions - 13-a-side is the way to go.

Now all our provincial councils and universiities have all sorts of development officers, fulltime coaches and so on - where is the appliance of that knowledge in evidence to tackle the serious problems in the game?
Tyrone were top class last week but one swallow doesn't make a summer - but I hope Tyrone maker ours anyway and go all the  way (there, I've said it and as a Down man don't feeel too bad at all)

[neilthemac]

sure i've seen Polish lads who learn to do the handpass on their first time playing gaelic football!!!
it is not a very difficult skill
it can be learned much later in the skills development

footpassing, shooting and footwork are much more important
playing football should be the priority for U8s - not basketball

[Zapatista]

This is madness. I enjoy the game the way it is and am sick of the over reacting going on here. Why don't you just change the game to Compromise rules. That should solve the tackle, catch, fist pass, blah blah

[Throw ball]

Neilthemac. When I went to school I learned to add before I learned to multiply. When learning anything you start with the easiest task.

[Over the Bar]

This is madness. I enjoy the game the way it is and am sick of the over reacting going on here. Why don't you just change the game to Compromise rules. That should solve the tackle, catch, fist pass, blah blah

Here here Zap.  Systems in GAA will continue to evolve and what works today won't work tomorrow.   As was said earlier, there weren't many dissenting voices in 1986 when Kerry hand-passed for half a game to beat Tyrone's superior catch & kick game! 

[Maiden1]

outlawing more than one handpass up to U16 level would be a good way to prioritise the footpass

when i see U8 coaches teaching how to handpass - what a joke

Hand passing is a very important skill, U8 should absolutely be tought how to pass the ball quickly with both hands (and feet).  It's not hand passing the ball quickly enough which leads to the players getting bottled up.  Watch Darragh O'Se getting bottled up again and you will see he had at least 2 chances to hand pass the ball before he eventually got bottled up and had to kick the ball away.

It's also stupid the way people talking about 'northern teams', as if all the northern teams are the same, Armagh kick the ball in long to big strong forwards (more like Kerry than Tyrone) where as Tyrone play a possession game giving low balls in front of smaller forwards, there would be no point Tyrone hoofing the ball in to McCullough, Penrose without looking are they free, there strength is that they are small and quick. Ireland soccer team used to hump the ball up to Niall Quinn and he knocked it down to the other smaller players, people used to complain about that, it's horses for courses, if you can find a 16 stone 6ft 5 full forward that does not trip over themselves then by all means just catch the ball and hoff it in, if not you have to pass the ball accurately (which is much more skillful) and move after the ball.

Tyrone concentrate on the skills of the game needed to win a match more than any other team, all training sessions last exactly 1 hour and all with a ball, they also only train 1 or 2 nights a week during the national league, much less than most other teams.  Players are expected to do there own work in the gym.  Like Kilkenny they base the way they play in a match on the intesity they get at training. Tyone don't play friendlies, the only 'friendlies' they have are amoung the 30 people in the squad at training.  This is why they have got to such an understanding among the team and why they are in an AI semi final after losing players of the caliber of Peter Canavan, Stephen O'Neill, Cormac McAnnallen (RIP).

[Hardy]

This is madness. I enjoy the game the way it is and am sick of the over reacting going on here. Why don't you just change the game to Compromise rules. That should solve the tackle, catch, fist pass, blah blah

Here here Zap.  Systems in GAA will continue to evolve and what works today won't work tomorrow.   As was said earlier, there weren't many dissenting voices in 1986 when Kerry hand-passed for half a game to beat Tyrone's superior catch & kick game! 

Rule makers must adapt the rules to counteract negative develoments in the game and to promote positive ones. Kerry's (and Dublin's) handpassing game in the seventies/early eighties was seen as a negative development, resulting in the changing of the rules to outlaw the hand-passed goal. The taking of the free from the hand was introduced to speed up the game and deter time-wasting.

So many negative developments have now crept into the game without response from the law-makers that I think it's time for a debate, at least, on how the rules can be adapted (or their proper implementation encouraged) to counteract such undesirable traits as over-use of the hand pass, feigning injury, diving to get a free, time-wasting. the scrapping for the ball that goes on at the award of every free, time-wasting (again), introducing subs to run down the clock, mouthing and sledging, disrespect for referees, hand-passed points, too much penalising of physical contact, lack of good foot passing, not enough long-distance point scoring, goalies tearing off their line for penalties, etc.