Sufficiently stress-testing new Gaelic football rules is an impossible task
Gaa Jim Park New Gaa Gavin Picture: Daly/sportsfile At Croke Of Review In Football Briefing Chairperson Mittee Seb A Dublin The Speaking Review Football Mittee Rules: During
As an entire process, it was unequivocally exhaustive. Jim Gavin’s committee had met 35 times, considered thousands of survey responses and data reports, staged seven trial games to produce a 204-page report broken down in an hour-long presentation. Then came the challenge.
Amid the swath of attacking suggestions and increased scoring returns, what about the poor defender? The question was framed around the new version of the offensive mark. A player must catch the ball on or inside the 20m line from a kick that came from outside of the 45m line. The attacker may play on immediately until no advantage is accrued. Basically, go for goal and if you miss, come back for the mark.
Is this to the detriment of defensive displays? If a defender makes a great play, why should they still be punished? Gavin was adamant that defensive skills would still be rewarded. A defender in that case can stop a four-point goal.
The issue is that a defender might not even try. If a mark is guaranteed, why not just play it safe and concede a free? Initially, the six-time All-Ireland winning manager insisted that was covered by Rule 5.41. A penalty would be awarded for the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. That only applies to black card offences, though, leaving space for creative cynicism.
Pat Doherty, a former National Match Officials Manager and current head of Operations with Westmeath GAA, eventually clarified that the black card rule was also due to be expanded to include holding a player up. If Congress pass both, all is well and good. If not, there is an obvious problem.
That is the thing. There is inescapable uncertainty here. Every action has an equal reaction, Newton said it would be so. The FRC know there will be unintended consequences, they have already accounted for as much as they can. Some of them will be seismic. We can all speculate. Take goalkeepers. Kickouts have to cross the 40m arc. Frees and 45s will count for two points. There will be a constraint on three players in the attacking half of the pitch. Goalkeepers can receive a pass from a teammate beyond the halfway line, thus creating a 11 vs 12. Boil it all down and Niall Morgan looks set to be the most valuable player in the country.
What else will it prompt? We don’t know. Only a very specific set of conditions can unearth that. It is easy to get creative, creativity is thinking of new things, innovation is doing it. That will come later. Congress will vote as they wish based on the evidence the FRC present to them. For decades the GAA has struggled to identify a sufficient testing ground for rule trials. Finding similar conditions to the white heat of championship is impossible because it can only be found in championship.
“That is one for me,” said FRC Michael Murphy.
“Trying to replicate that really word that is being used more in this championship, jeopardy. The white heat of battle. Huge repercussions if you win or lose. That, through the whole sandbox series, has been difficult to achieve or do.
“Yes, teams are competitive. They want to win for themselves but trying to replicate that has been difficult. Interprovincial you are hoping players want to win against other provinces. Any times I played in them, I did want to win in those games. They were competitive.”
He continued: “There is no doubt about it, come the national league and championship, when there is real jeopardy over a team getting promoted or relegated, dropping in or out of Sam Maguire, staying in or out of the championship, that is when any rule enhancement that do go through will be pushed to the nth.”
That is why the schedule is so. Special Congress is set for November 30. The rule enhancements are set to apply to the 2025 league and championship with an ongoing assessment. There will then be a report and new rules will be set in stone for 2026. Much can change in that timeframe. Much of it will. This is where it is at. Months of comprehensive preparation are coming to an end; the trial is only getting started.