Gaelic Football - Rules & Regulations discussion/clarification

[Rossfan]

What "new" rule?

[Armagh18]

Compromise on it could be keep last years hooter rule but ball must go dead either for a wide or a score. This years rule is brutal.

Apparently the Carlow players only found out they'd have a hooter in place for the league final on the Thursday before, bad work. 

No issue whatsoever with going back to last year's hooter set up. No idea why they felt the need to change it in the first place.

That score of Cliffords before half time in last years final annoyed a lot of people, I thought it was excellent play by Kerry and poor work by Donegal rather than a rules issue. One tweak would be to make the ball have to go wide/over the bar inside of just out of play. Was it last years Ulster final yourselves kept the ball brilliantly at the end of extra time and we eventually fouled to force yous into hitting a free.

[David McKeown]

The above post from gallsman exposes the shallowness of the new rule zealots who cannot countenance any unintended negative consequences of the new rules. The issue of additional time would only occasionally have arisen in the past.

In contrast those who critique the new rules do so with the intention of highlighting the unintended consequences and they suggest improvements/compromises to address the issues, e.g. suggestion from Armagh18 to allow 2-pointers outside 45m.

Maybe the zealots might admit that the new rules can do with improvement and engage properly in the debate.

I'm not a zealot.

The sports I watch the most - Gaelic Football, NFL, soccer and rugby union - all have aspects/rules that drive me mad.

But the one that in my lifetime went from the most unhinged and unpredictable to becoming the most tedious and unwatchable, courtesy of over coaching, was Gaelic Football.

It needed a full overhaul.

And for the most part, I believe that overhaul has been a proper success.

Is it perfect? No, no it's not. No sport is perfect, and I don't actually believe most sports have the same cultural problem that Gaelic Football has, whereby coaches feel it is their role, purpose, priority to abuse the intentions of those rules.

Over time I'll be happy to see the rules adapt, especially as and when coaches make the sport unwatchable again. But for now I'm really enjoying watching Gaelic Football, and the last thing therefore I'm going to do - at this moment - is look for ways to change it.

It took me about 3-4 weeks after the new rules were released to realise this. I was as sceptical as anyone originally. But then I found myself  enjoying match ups like Roscommon v Tyrone. Just 12 months previous I'd sooner had done a novena than tune into the muck those counties were producing.

A perfectly sensible and understandable view point. Not one I agree with but at least one that I can understand. At least if I understand it properly. You didn't like what football had become. Now you enjoy football therefore in support of the new rules.

I approach it differently. I did enjoy football before although I accept there was some turgid stuff. I don't like what it's become with points and goals both devalued in many ways. With certain skills prioritised over others and with weather conditions and referring play a far more important role now than I feel they should. I don't think there's as many good games anymore and I think there's as many or at least as many turgid ones. I also think the new rules make for a better tv product for a neutral and a worse product for non neutral fans in attendance.

For context one of my favourite games as a neutral ever was Donegal v Dublin during  McGuinesses first time in charge maybe 2014. I thought it fascinating to see the contrast in styles that day. I'm not sure there's much contrast in the new rules.

[David McKeown]

Compromise on it could be keep last years hooter rule but ball must go dead either for a wide or a score. This years rule is brutal.

Apparently the Carlow players only found out they'd have a hooter in place for the league final on the Thursday before, bad work. 

No issue whatsoever with going back to last year's hooter set up. No idea why they felt the need to change it in the first place.

That score of Cliffords before half time in last years final annoyed a lot of people, I thought it was excellent play by Kerry and poor work by Donegal rather than a rules issue. One tweak would be to make the ball have to go wide/over the bar inside of just out of play. Was it last years Ulster final yourselves kept the ball brilliantly at the end of extra time and we eventually fouled to force yous into hitting a free.

The problem is the hooter rule was introduced to ensure teams had roughly equivalent amounts of time playing each way so that environmental factors etc would be balanced out. Any tweak to the current hooter wouldn't really achieve that. So I'd either keep it as is in the hope someone finds a way to stop the killing of time at the end of half's or I'd get rid of it entirely.

[AustinPowers]

Back and forth handpassing went on for years.
Yes, up to opposition to contest the ball
Yes. You're not meant to break the rules.

So you don't think the rules have any room for improvement?

There's always room for improvement.

Going back to the pre-FRC status quo is not it.

Personally, I don't really care about the hooter, as that was never the issue.

The issue was teams packing their 45 and back. Three men up and the two point arc have been a huge success in solving that problem and must be kept.

Using the 45 line to separate two pointers is a waste of time as teams will simply pack the middle given that very few scores are ever got from shots on the wing beyond the 45.

I'm also loving the midfield contests now that the short kick out set up has encouraged high pressing.

I don't think it  has. There's as much  handpassing and constant recycling around the  arc, maybe even more,  than  there was before.

Rules that actually  draws out the likes  of Clifford, the best forward in the game, from the opposition goal , is nothing to be celebrated. The arc and  3v3 rule  were apparently  designed to  give the likes of him more room  to do their thing inside, near the goal. It's done the  exact opposite.

In my opinion , the 2 pointer and  arc rules have  totally changed the game for the worse. It's a  massive  stain on  the game, and slowly  pushing me away from watching.

[BigGreenField]

Back and forth handpassing went on for years.
Yes, up to opposition to contest the ball
Yes. You're not meant to break the rules.

So you don't think the rules have any room for improvement?

There's always room for improvement.

Going back to the pre-FRC status quo is not it.

Personally, I don't really care about the hooter, as that was never the issue.

The issue was teams packing their 45 and back. Three men up and the two point arc have been a huge success in solving that problem and must be kept.

Using the 45 line to separate two pointers is a waste of time as teams will simply pack the middle given that very few scores are ever got from shots on the wing beyond the 45.

I'm also loving the midfield contests now that the short kick out set up has encouraged high pressing.

I don't think it  has. There's as much  handpassing and constant recycling around the  arc, maybe even more,  than  there was before.

Rules that actually  draws out the likes  of Clifford, the best forward in the game, from the opposition goal , is nothing to be celebrated. The arc and  3v3 rule  were apparently  designed to  give the likes of him more room  to do their thing inside, near the goal. It's done the  exact opposite.

In my opinion , the 2 pointer and  arc rules have  totally changed the game for the worse. It's a  massive  stain on  the game, and slowly  pushing me away from watching.

The option not to increase a goal to 4 points or even 5 looks like a missed one as time progresses.

[David McKeown]

Back and forth handpassing went on for years.
Yes, up to opposition to contest the ball
Yes. You're not meant to break the rules.

So you don't think the rules have any room for improvement?

There's always room for improvement.

Going back to the pre-FRC status quo is not it.

Personally, I don't really care about the hooter, as that was never the issue.

The issue was teams packing their 45 and back. Three men up and the two point arc have been a huge success in solving that problem and must be kept.

Using the 45 line to separate two pointers is a waste of time as teams will simply pack the middle given that very few scores are ever got from shots on the wing beyond the 45.

I'm also loving the midfield contests now that the short kick out set up has encouraged high pressing.

I don't think it  has. There's as much  handpassing and constant recycling around the  arc, maybe even more,  than  there was before.

Rules that actually  draws out the likes  of Clifford, the best forward in the game, from the opposition goal , is nothing to be celebrated. The arc and  3v3 rule  were apparently  designed to  give the likes of him more room  to do their thing inside, near the goal. It's done the  exact opposite.

In my opinion , the 2 pointer and  arc rules have  totally changed the game for the worse. It's a  massive  stain on  the game, and slowly  pushing me away from watching.

The option not to increase a goal to 4 points or even 5 looks like a missed one as time progresses.

Absolutely not. There would be no point (pun intended) in going for points anymore. They would be largely useless I think.

[Captain Obvious]

The above post from gallsman exposes the shallowness of the new rule zealots who cannot countenance any unintended negative consequences of the new rules. The issue of additional time would only occasionally have arisen in the past.

In contrast those who critique the new rules do so with the intention of highlighting the unintended consequences and they suggest improvements/compromises to address the issues, e.g. suggestion from Armagh18 to allow 2-pointers outside 45m.

Maybe the zealots might admit that the new rules can do with improvement and engage properly in the debate.

I'm not a zealot.

The sports I watch the most - Gaelic Football, NFL, soccer and rugby union - all have aspects/rules that drive me mad.

But the one that in my lifetime went from the most unhinged and unpredictable to becoming the most tedious and unwatchable, courtesy of over coaching, was Gaelic Football.

It needed a full overhaul.

And for the most part, I believe that overhaul has been a proper success.

Is it perfect? No, no it's not. No sport is perfect, and I don't actually believe most sports have the same cultural problem that Gaelic Football has, whereby coaches feel it is their role, purpose, priority to abuse the intentions of those rules.

Over time I'll be happy to see the rules adapt, especially as and when coaches make the sport unwatchable again. But for now I'm really enjoying watching Gaelic Football, and the last thing therefore I'm going to do - at this moment - is look for ways to change it.

It took me about 3-4 weeks after the new rules were released to realise this. I was as sceptical as anyone originally. But then I found myself  enjoying match ups like Roscommon v Tyrone. Just 12 months previous I'd sooner had done a novena than tune into the muck those counties were producing.

Premier League is that right now and not a hope it will get a full overhaul.

When the knock out stages of the All Ireland championship had better quality and more competitive games in 2024 than last summer then the need for major instead of minor overhaul needs to be questioned.

On another note Roscommon v Tyrone wasn't a match up in the new rules. They did fare off in 2024 which was enjoyable viewing with the underdog beating and knocking Tyrone out of the championship on their home patch.

[DuffleKing]

The chances of a real underdog winning any day now is virtually gone.

I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing per se but a division 3 team are not taking out a division 1 team in the modern game when we get to championship football. I guess it emphasises further the need for tiered competitions.

[marty34]

I think, like club football, there should be 3 championships - Senior, Intermediate and Junior.

They have 5 in hurling. I don't see why there can't be 3 in football.

Biggest barrier is arrogance of some counties who have won f"^k all squared saying the should be in a higher grade. 

[Rossfan]

Agree with the 3 tier.
Would the divisions be set in stone like the hurling where you have to win your way out?
Or would they be decided annually on NFL/Provincial campaigns as at present?

[tiempo]

There already is a third tier in football, played as a curtain raiser on football semi-final weekend

These players however aren't GPA/grant funded

The GAA hierarchy needs to look at running football in a manner closer to hurling with more tiers and grant funding for elite overseas players, the footballers of Yorkshire deserve mileage and protein from Croke as elite players just as much as the Yorkshire hurlers who aren't left wanting

[Milltown Row2]

Leagues should be just that leagues, within GAA we've never taken it seriously, winning championships are what matters and should be the way up for counties (like their clubs) to reach the higher tiers

[EoinW]

Alas we reach the slippery slope which progressives never consider when they transform the game.  When changing a century old championship format you'd better get it right.  Once you begin chopping and changing over and over again all you achieve is to give fans something to fight about.

Convenient for a GAA message board.  Not good for the game.

Was there really anything wrong with the original format - 4 provincial championships with the winners advancing to the AI Semi Finals?

I can understand fans wanting more games and the backdoor system delivered that.  However it should have been agreed that if there was ever any change to that system then they had to go back to the original format.

What's all these changes gotten us?  Whining about time constraints - which the GAA created itself.  Penalty shootouts to decide championships!  What's wrong with you Europeans that you think it's okay to decide championships with, basically, a coin toss?  Everyone remember Dublin-Meath 1991.  Is a positive to get replays out of the game?

Slippery slope.  The Control Freaks at the top are happy as they make their mark on the game.  Everyone else loses.

[Armagh18]

Alas we reach the slippery slope which progressives never consider when they transform the game.  When changing a century old championship format you'd better get it right.  Once you begin chopping and changing over and over again all you achieve is to give fans something to fight about.

Convenient for a GAA message board.  Not good for the game.

Was there really anything wrong with the original format - 4 provincial championships with the winners advancing to the AI Semi Finals?

I can understand fans wanting more games and the backdoor system delivered that.  However it should have been agreed that if there was ever any change to that system then they had to go back to the original format.

What's all these changes gotten us?  Whining about time constraints - which the GAA created itself.  Penalty shootouts to decide championships!  What's wrong with you Europeans that you think it's okay to decide championships with, basically, a coin toss?  Everyone remember Dublin-Meath 1991.  Is a positive to get replays out of the game?

Slippery slope.  The Control Freaks at the top are happy as they make their mark on the game.  Everyone else loses.

Yes given how different the competitiveness is in each province