Eight rules to improve Gaelic Football

Gaelic football is fast becoming the poor relation of the GAA. As the hurling championship continues to set the world alight, the Super 8s in the football championship are proving to be even more turgid and disappointing than the majority of the fare that went on earlier in the summer.

There appears to be no appetite amongst the Co Boards to introduce a second tier football championship, but something has to be done and major overhaul of the game needs to happen before it dies lying down.
The crowds going to football games are getting smaller and smaller. No one wants to endure some of utter tripe that has been forced upon us this summer, so unless something happens, and quickly, the allure of Gaelic football is going to slip down the pecking order of the young boys and girls of this country.
There are several rule changes and alternative approaches that could be made that, while they may appear drastic, would undoubtedly improve Gaelic football beyond all recognition.
Of course most of these rule changes might be more difficult to apply at the lower levels of the club game, but if we don’t do something quick to improve the inter-county game there will be no club game.

RULE ONE - A minimum of three attacking players must remain inside the opposition’s 45-metre line at all times.
If I was to have my way I would suggest a minimum of five players inside the 40 at all times, but keeping at least three players in attack would cut back on the blanket defence strategy that has been the biggest blight on the game of Gaelic football in years.
RULE TWO - Limit handpasses to a maximum of five in succession.
It’s about time we got back to the basics of Gaelic football. The catch and kick era saw the best of the game, but the incessant overuse of the handpass to retain possession and carefully extract a way out of trouble with minimum risk is suffocating the game.
RULE THREE - No substitutes allowed in the closing 10 minutes
With the obvious exception of injuries, which are verified by a neutral doctor, teams should not be allowed introduce subs in the closing stages of a game. This is to cut down on time wasting which reduces the closing stages of what could be a tight game to a broken, disjointed affair.
RULE FOUR - All kickouts must go at least 45-metres.
Just like the handpass and the blanket defence the short kickout has become a scourge. This obsession with retaining possession at all costs with minimum risk is killing the high fielding skill element of the game while slowing down the game and making it more and more like a soccer match between teams determined to ‘build from the back’.
RULE FIVE - Introduce the sin-bin
The current black card punishment doesn’t work and isn’t a deterrent to stop someone from ‘taking one for the team’. Where is the punishment for someone when they know they can be replaced, in Dublin’s case, by a player of similar if not better standard. A 10-minute spell in the bin for cynical play would put a halt to a lot of the disruptive play that presently exists.
RULE SIX - Basketball foul
If a player scores in the process of being fouled, the score still should count and a 20-metre free also awarded. This rule is used to good effect in basketball and would act as a further deterrent to cynical play. It would encourage more shooting and significantly reduce the type of late tackles and professional fouling that many county teams resort to in their win at all costs mentality.
RULE SEVEN - Mic up referees.
Make referees accountable for their decisions and by mic’ing up the referees we will also hear the levels of abuse they have to listen to from players and the management. Such abuse should be treated with zero tolerance, a yellow card for the first time you open your mouth to complain and a red card for the second time would shut up a lot of lads very quickly. A straight red card for the use of threatening, abusive language towards any official or opponent should also be implemented. Referees need to be allowed to officiate without the pressure to constantly have to ‘even it up’. If a player crosses the line they should be punished. The rugby model, while based on a game with very defined rules which are more straight forward to apply, is a perfect example of how players should respect referees.
RULE EIGHT - VAR
Given the GAA’s slow nature to respond to positive uses of technology in other sports it will be at least a decade before they look at this option, but it really needs to be examined. Just one example of a good use of VAR would have been in the closing stages of Meath’s loss to Tyrone in the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers when James McEntee was clearly fouled and no free was given. Meath were also denied a clearcut penalty which would have been awarded if the referee was allowed to have a second look. Let the referee control the game, but give each manager two challenges per half, if those challenges are unsuccessful then so be it, but if they are successful then they don’t lose a challenge. Managers can have no complaints then about poor refereeing decisions.

Obviously those rules wouldn’t solve all the problems that currently ail Gaelic football, but if something isn’t done the game we all love will be in big trouble.