Gaelic Football is transformed

IN ALL FAIRNESS

Not even the most optimistic Gaelic Football follower could have dreamed that the rule enhancements in recent years would have had this much impact.

The 2023 All-Ireland Football Final between Armagh and Galway was the last straw. While we got a dramatic conclusion, the game was a bore-fest for the most part with caution and fear of losing possession the central theme. It summed up where the game was and something had to be done.

As we enter the final months of Jarlath Burns term as GAA President, his legacy is already secured. It would have been easy and selfish of him to sit tight and leave the game the way it was as his native Armagh had mastered that style of prescribed football with every player behind the ball in defence, and when on the attack, moves were generally set plays with very little deviation from it.

It wasn’t just Armagh as all the major contenders were at it and while it was providing tight contests, for the most part there was no excitement. To that end, one of the first things Burns announced upon becoming President in February 2024 was the establishment of the Football Review Committee (FRC) under the leadership of Jim Gavin. It was an inspired choice as one thing the six-time All-Ireland winning manager with Dublin is known for is his attention to detail.

His background within the Irish Air Corp where structure is sacrosanct, ensured they would go through every element of the game with a fine toothcomb. They trialled everything they did with sand-box games, to see what could and couldn’t work, and came up with a range of enchancements which have transformed the game to the extent that you look forward to each game that is down for tv coverage.

The three-up aspect has worked from both a defensive and attacking aspect. Defensively, teams cannot now sit off and give up the short kickout. Opposition keepers can still go short but there is a greater risk of being intercepted his results in numerous goals.

When forced to go long, there is the return of the contest for possession, whether clean in the air of from the break, there is now the uncertainty over who will win the ball and from where neither defences can be completely set. Previously in such instances, the team that eventually win the ball were largely fouled immediately to give their defences time to set but that is now eliminated with the solo & go, and if there is gamesmanship in terms of slowing the play down, the referee can bring the ball up fifty-metres into the scoring zone for a one or a two-pointer.

I wasn’t convinced the two-point shot was going to be a success initially, largely because of the caution of managers and coaches who would see it as too risky to take on a high percentage shot and potentially hand the ball back to the opposition by falling short or from the subsequent kick-out. However, the change in mentality has been stark, helped by those managers/coaches that were brave with the new rules, the likes of Meath who have come back to the fore over the last two years, with the game overall returning back to what Royal county football was in its hay-day, plenty of kicking with good quality forwards.

One feared that the two-point shot would create an even bigger gap between the teams with more talent that not but it has worked the other way, as along with Meath; Louth, Westmeath, Roscommon, and Cork have risen to compete with and beat the Dublin’s, Kerry’s, Armagh’s and Donegal’s on a regular basis. To call a winner from the twelve remaining teams in the hunt for the Sam Maguire is a fools errand but we look forward to seeing how it all unfolds in the coming weeks.

The transformation in the attractiveness of Gaelic Football as a spectacle, and the rise in attendances that have followed, gives plenty of food for thought as the Hurling Advisory Committee (HAC) under the chairmanship of John Meyler goes about their work.

This week, they will be sifting through the over eight thousand responses to their survey on the state of the game and what changes might be or are needed. For much of the last decade, we have been spoiled by the quality of hurling but there is a growing concern that the game is going in the wrong direction, similar to football a couple of years ago, too much focus on holding onto the ball which has led to the handpass (and most of them illegal under the current rule) epidemic, rather than taking greater risks with the direct ball. The middle-third is so congested now that is there a possibility that a three-up rule inside the 45-yard line is needed to open up more space. It will be interesting to see what they come up with as certainly some modifications are needed.