Jim Gavin: Rules committee will access player GPS data to gauge impact of changes
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The Football Review Committee (FRC) is to request county teams’ game data to gauge the impact of the new rules.
At a press briefing on Friday, FRC chairman Jim Gavin revealed the body will be asking managers to provide information from players’ GPS devices, which provide metrics such as high speed and maximum speed running and total distance travelled in Allianz League and championship games.
It is the FRC’s intention to publish the data on the Tuesday or Wednesday after these games. The figures released will not be county-specific; each county’s statistics will only be provided to a data controller. To that effect, Gavin and other FRC members will sign non-disclosure agreements (NDRs).
On the basis of compiling those statistics, the FRC may recommend amendments to or removal of rules to Central Council who have the power to put them into effect at any stage in 2025. A QR code will also be included in match programmes for supporters and other interested parties to provide feedback on games to the FRC.
Gavin is optimistic counties will get on board knowing their data will be anonymised and their privacy as enshrined by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) respected. “We need to engage with the counties and say for the benefit of this we need to get raw data. I won’t know who it is, it simply goes into what's called a data controller in the games intelligence unit. They then crunch the figures.
“We’ll know it’s a Division 3 team but we won’t know what team it is. We need to work together on that to protect the integrity of one, the player, from a GDPR perspective. I’ll have signed a NDR that even if somebody did tell me I’m not going to tell anybody. We just need to respect that.
“That's probably important because if it breaks down then unfortunately we're only going to use the bloody catch, kick and how many passes and hand passes, but we do need to see the physical demands as well.”
Gavin said the most opportune time to make any changes to the experimental rules is during the break between the Allianz Leagues and championships. However, he did not rule out alterations during either competition.
Dublin’s six-time All-Ireland SFC winning manager had no issue with the GAA’s Higher Education Committee’s decision not to incorporate the new rules in forthcoming championships such as the Sigerson and Trench Cups.
“I think it was a very sensible decision for them not to but it would have been nice to play it. The point about players having to switch over and back (between rules), I don't think that's too much of a drama, to be honest. I wouldn't see it that way.”
He agreed there will be more of an incentive for defenders, especially goalkeepers, to touch two-point attempts before they go over the bar to reduce the value of the score to a point.
“Why wouldn’t they? Of course, they would. You’d want to be a tall goalkeeper but if it's just going to drop over the bar, yeah that’s what the rule says so (touching) that would be a one-pointer.
“We would have encouraged back in the day, if you can stop that ball going over the bar, stop the ball going over the bar. Just stop the score. So we would always expect that the ball could come back and the goalkeeper might try and flick it on and you would have seen that. I’d expect my goalkeepers to get a touch on it.”
Gavin said he is agnostic on how Gaelic football’s scoreline and scoreboards will reflect the new scoring system. However, he suggested the two-point score could be acknowledged. “One, two, three (goals, two-pointers, points), that might be the scoring system. I know that our scoreboards aren't capable of doing that.
“What we're hearing as well is there's not that many two-pointers in the county in internal games. Maybe in wet conditions because of winter but there are a few every game.
“For reporting, it does make sense that it’s standardised across all publications and to me the logical one would be one-two-three. I’m agnostic really, the scoreline should tell the story of the game.”
It was also confirmed the new rules will be in place at development level down to U14 in 2025 with the solo-and-go added to Go Games from U12 down. At U13 level, the arc will be considerably smaller than 40 metre at its apex so that kick-outs and two-point attempt won’t have to struck as long.
The national development committee said: “We would encourage counties to test the new rules. When we have clear empirical evidence about the impact of the rules on underage competition, we will formally feed those back to the Football Review Committee.”
January 3: Workshop and game with national referees panel
January 4: Inter-county challenge games under new rules including Kildare v Galway, Mayo v Monaghan
January 8: Football Review Committee (FRC) and director of games development Shane Flanagan’s briefing with provincial county and development staff on rollout of new rules and planned coach education.
January 13: FRC support to director of games engagement with provincial and county staff with upskilling of the delivery of courses for the new rules.
January 14: Further briefing with national referees panel.
January 25-26: Start of the Allianz Football League
February 3-14: Break period between Round 2 and 3 of AFL. Possibility of rules being tweaked.
Through January: FRC supports to national referees committee, who will act as mentors to referees during inter-county challenge games. FRC to provide support to inter-county and club teams on request.