What have they done to Gaelic football ?

[neilthemac]

I never said anything about changing the rules at adult level

changing the emphasis at underage level should lead to players being more skilled and better at kicking the ball without having to resort to lots of handpassing

btw, i've found watchng gaelic in the last few years become less enjoyable. far less skillful players on show

[rrhf]

Such a thread of nonsense.  If Gary Linekar criticsed soccor like Spillane criticises Gaelic he wouldnt be let near a BBC studio.  The main problem with the GAA is those who want to change the rules to suit themselves but claim do so in the interests of asthetics. More fool those who believe anything different.  For those who say Armagh were the Greeks of Gaelic Football - fair play to them they have one more Sam than most iin the last 10 years to show for it.  Quit knocking successful teams and players in the GAA as it will have far more leaving than the odd p***k who sees a defensive game on his TV and feels cheated.

[Rav67]

The only thing that would happen if we try to put a number on how many handpasses are allowed in succession would be that defenders would tap the ball 3 yards to the next man before they could fist pass it again, which would look farcical.

Personally i don't think its a big deal if defenders build out from the back keeping possession using the hand-pass, of course it's a different story if you cant hit decent kick passes once you've gotten out of your own 45, this can hinder the game as a spectacle. 

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Its strange the way that you always here people going on about changing rules when ulster teams are doing well. There was a lot of it round the early 90's and came back after Tyrone/Armagh did well. The hand pass,too many players in the one half,bring in the mark etc.

[tyssam5]

"Thirty fit players in a small area will always produce the negative, destructive play we witness in every game these days"

Stopped reading at this point.

Who is the joker who wrote this?

[ONeill]

The hand-pass argument especially makes me laugh. Kerry used to hand-pass the ball the length of the field, and then even into the net! Meath scored arguably the greatest goal of the decade in the 90s by hand-passing their way to the penalty area.

I think what some people really want in a regression to the old days of amateurism at its extreme with half-fit players and less tactical awareness.

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.

This argument again is weak and lazy. Sit down and watch a game from the 80s and a game from now. You might find more footpasses then, but I'd wager you'll find a much lower percentage of accurate footpasses. The London Times ran an article on this. The '05 final had higher percentages of accuracy in all aspect to our game than the All-Ireland Final of '85. Mouthing? I hope you're not saying this is a modern phenomenon. What is a modern trait is the amount of cameras and scrutiny of such aspects, but they always existed. Long-distance points - again look for accuracy and economy comparisons. Time wasting is at the discretion of referees - it's their prerogative to sort that, as they always have done. Subs to run down the clock is a tactic used in every game that has the options of subs - you seem to want a purest of the pure game.

Our players are top athletes now, coaching methods are more advanced. Compare games of the 80s to now. I can hardly remember 3 stand out clinker games - Offaly/Kerry perhaps a stand-out. Those Cork/Meath games are almost unwatchable now. The rest were dour, rugged, riddled with errors and played by men who could be on the beer the week leading up to it if they wanted, and get away with it - unless you were under Micko's tutelage. The 00s are churning out 2-3 memorable games a season, with wonderful scores and fabulous passages of play.  

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

What a load of unadulterated rot. The 'author' (properly termed a sh*t-peddler, and no surprise that there's no attribution to this piece) is undoubtedly from the school of perennial losers it would seem*, who wouldn't know his arse from his elbow, and only knows that he misses the way things were in the good old days, whatever they were. Established powers never like being challenged by thinkers who can think outside the box, and will always bemoan the novelties of their ideas; it comes with the territory of complacency and assumed assuredness.

He has a claque on this board to be sure, and nothing surprising there; though the sanctimony is somewhat nauseating - rose tinted glasses are one thing, but total blindness of the past is another. As has been pointed out, a cure for that would be to rerun a few of the 'gems' from the good old days (beginning with the 70s), if they can be stomached of course, that is. Bah!

* Or maybe not quite perennial

[Mike Sheehy]

tut, tut..such hostility against an alternative point of view.

Despite ye're denials you lads really do care what the southerners think of you. I can see no other reason for this over the top reaction.

[Pangurban]

The time has come to abolish the pick up with the toe, as few players today are capable of performing it in accordance with the rules It slows the game, leads to a lot of over whistling, and is the area where many injuries are caused. The Ladies game manages well without this out-dated rule.

[ONeill]

Wouldn't like to see that pb. That'll just encourage mass rucks.

[ExiledGael]

The time has come to abolish the pick up with the toe, as few players today are capable of performing it in accordance with the rules It slows the game, leads to a lot of over whistling, and is the area where many injuries are caused. The Ladies game manages well without this out-dated rule.

Often wondered about that, would it not lead to a lot of rugby-like diving for 50-50 balls to secure possession? Could be more dangerous than it is now. As well as that we've seen a few brilliant examples of how it can be done at speed lately (John Hayes springs to mind, possible point of the year). It's one of the few skills that are totally unique to our game.

[Rossfan]

If we start abolishing things because no one does it right  thus causing frees - how about we do away with the steps rule ?
Mind you some refs ignore it most of the time as they do with letting lads tip 5 and 10 metre frees to colleagues even though the ball has to go 13 metres before it's in play.
As for punching the ball over the bar - FFs dont make me laugh - it's handpassed almost every time.
Then there are sideline kicks - soon they'll be taking them from the middle of the field

The problem with football these days is 
1- loads of teams trying to emulate Tyrone by pulling loads of men behind the ball when the opposition has it. However unlike Tyrone when they get it back they are too slow and cant sweep into attack like Tyrone.
2- the slow crab like rugby league type attacks which give their opponenets all day to get their men back to choke up the middle or half back area.A long kick over the top is the way to make that redundant.
Both Westmeath and Armagh were found wanting this year by basically playing with only 2 forwards  and not coming up in waves to support them. They were never going to score enough to win serious games at that sort of carry on and indeed Armagh only won the Ulster Final by default because Fermanagh couldnt put the ball between the white poles at the end of the pitch - which of course is the basic object of the game.

[Zulu]

When the pick up was abolished on an experimental basis a few years ago it speeded up the game and didn't lead to rucks ar anything like it, so I agree, it should be done away with. As for the main issue, we do need a debate on where football is going and if we are going to do so on this board I'd ask the Ulster posters ( the Tyrone one's in particular) to leave your paranoia at the door. Like I posted on another thread, criticism of certain aspects of football aren't attacks on particular counties or the result of jealousy   but simply observations on the way football is developing. I for one don't want to see the handpass restricted but I do want to see more football games like Galway V Kerry, Down V Tyrone, Cork V Kerry (2nd half) and less of Tyrone V WM, Fermangh V Kildare etc. And if rule changes are needed to increase the likelihood of more attacking football then we should embrace suggestions, experiment during secondary competitions and see where it takes us.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

As for the main issue, we do need a debate on where football is going and if we are going to do so on this board I'd ask the Ulster posters ( the Tyrone one's in particular) to leave your paranoia at the door.

Fair enough Zulu, but when this particular genius comes out with: "I was disgusted to see Tyrone back in Croke Park with all their negative football. I blame them for much of what has happened to football over the past decade and am no fan of Micky Harte and his legacy to Gaelic football."

It's hardly paranoia, is it? And this amadán doesn't even have the integrity to put his/her name to it, such is the courage of his/her convictions. That article's a cheap shot, of the lowest, gutter-dwelling, order, no mistake. Like Mickey Harte has personally been touring the counties and teaching footballers how not to score. Total confusion reigns here, in that amadán can't separate discipline, passion, will-to-win, determination, and no little skill from purely bad football. Not to mention the jealously and bitterness.

[Zapatista]

___________________________
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNING BODY
OF THE
IRISH ZAP
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God (Peter Canavan) and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of sport, Ireland, through us, summons her children to Thurles and strikes for open free flowing football.

Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Zapatista Athletic Party, and through her open varied organisations, the GPA, the Gaaboard and Of One Belief, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in Soccer and by gallant allies in Rugby, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.

We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Croke Park, and to the unfettered control of advertising, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a professional people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of Pat Spillane. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to a national sport and few pints; one time in the last 13 years they have asserted it in Dublin. Standing on that Hill 16 and failing again to assert it in Dublin and in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the ZAP as a Sovereign Independent Organsation, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-ladies football to the cause of its free flowing football, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the sports of the nation.

The ZAP is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The ZAP guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities, lower insurance and one thousand Texaco Value points to all its members, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all of its fans, cherishing all of the fans of the nation equally but the Dubs more equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by Ricey and Francy Bellew, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.

Until our free flowing football has brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent Rule book, representative of the pureist people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the ZAP, hereby constituted, will administer the high ball in tactic of the ZAP in trust for the people.

We place the cause of the ZAP under the protection of the Most High Micko. Whose blessing we invoke upon our beards, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by multiple hand passes or swarming in the form of puke football. In this supreme hour the ZAP must, by its valour and discipline and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august and September destiny to which it is called.

Signed on Behalf of the ZAP.

Sign below if your with us.

Fear ón Srath Bán