Jayp,


Make referees accountable for stupid decisions. 4 men surrounding a player is obstruction to start with, and how many actually tackle for the ball?

Refs need to punished for not awarding frees to attacking teams.





4 men surrounding a player may be obstructing the player but is not a free, so how can you punish the ref???

Torcaill (Australia) - Posts: 204 - 05/04/2015 21:29:54    1711043

We need to be wary of the law of unintended consequences.

I have thought about different soloutions but in my view any rule brought in would only cause problems somewhere else or make a difficult job more difficult for referees.

The game is always evolving & teams will come up with soloutions. One thig we do know is that without an attacking plan teams cannot win, that alone should ensure that approaches like Donegal in 2011 & Derry a couple of weeks ago will gain no traction.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 05/04/2015 22:01:34    1711073

When I say punish I mean they should be taken from the next round of league/championship games. Players get dropped if they aren't up to it, refs should be no different.

Problem is there are not enough referees, when was the last time you saw an retired inter county player turn to refereeing? perhaps thats down to the fact they know the sh/t that referees have to put up with and just couldn't be bothered doing it.

If referees were to implement the letter of the law there would be uproar and they would not receive the support of their county boards or croke park.

A ref making one or two bad decisions in any one game is not going to change whats going on, its an attitude change from all involved

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2026 - 06/04/2015 09:19:07    1711080

Simple Solution. Reduce football to 13 a side. The pitches remain the same size and width thus allowing more space to open up. Teams would still play defensively if they wish because if people like it or not footvall has become more tactical. The days of players standing in one spot marking their man is gone and I welcome it to be honest. However I do agree we need to give our flair players more of a chance, 13 a side would require teams to have pace throughout the team and especially if they wanted to carry out a defensive job against the best teams as there would be more space to mark.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 06/04/2015 09:40:52    1711087

Eliminate the short kickout, and stipulate that all kickout's must pass your own 45 or else be retaken.

This would open games up, with Increased focus in winning the midfield.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 06/04/2015 12:02:24    1711150

No rule where a forward has to stay in the field will work. So I play Full Forward and my man makes a run. I have to stop at the 45?
Consecutive handpass limit would benefit the blanket.

yesterdayin Mchale park but teams defneded with numbers. However both teams especially donegal scored massive scores from out the field. Thats obviosuly something Donegal are practicing to overcome the blanket which we ourselves struggle with.

I greater problem is cynical play and the black card has failed massively. Ok the refs not using it correctly is a problem but the black card in its current capacity is not worth it. Hugh McFaddan got a black card yesterday and I think most Donegal people were happy enough as he is playing for the u21s in Final this week. Then Mayo spent the last 10 minutes pulling Donegal down and obviously not caring whether they got black carded. Somehow only one of them did anyway but its no real reason to not use them tactics. Scrap the current system and instead implement a proper sin bin. A proper cynical tackle in the final 10 minutes should result in a subsequent ban if deemed serious enough by a proper review panel.

dstuction (Donegal) - Posts: 1209 - 06/04/2015 12:54:21    1711192

posted this on another thread but its more relevant here

Gaelic football is grand the way it is for **** sake.

There where 32 league games in division 1 this year.

2 of them where absolutely dire. (Dublin v Derry and Donegal v Monaghan)

The other 30 where fine.

Im sick of reading how the game is at rock bottom.

Its not.

Far from it. As i pointed out on a thread my own, there was 7-111 scored in 4 games in D1 yesterday. Thats brilliant.

Clearly the increasing league attendances will argue the point also. Why would people go if football was at such a low ebb.

Im also sick of reading about "solutions" to this problem.

The responsibility for what goes on on the pitch lies with players and management.

It should not be the responsibility of a rule book to break down a blanket defence.

Its up to individual teams. If there is no team smart enough to break down the blanket then they only have themselves to blame for these defensive tactics, because like EVERY OTHER TACTIC, IN EVERY OTHER FECKIN TEAM SPORT ON THE PLANET, The way to make a tactic fall out of favour is to show its limitations time, and time again until it becomes null and void.

In a day and age where players are training 5 times a week. and We have counties hiring sports psycologists, nutritionists, scientists, and have coaches visiting and revisiting hours upon hours of video footage, In a sport that is professional in all but name, We havin whinging fans stuck in the stoneage who simply refuse to move with the times, like most of the fossils in the GAA

The system cant be beat, lets change the rules.. Sorry but that attitude stinks.

That takes the responsibility away from managers and players.

It's also grossly unfair on sides who where in the shadows for years, with no hope of being competitive, now not only being competitive but winning silverware, being made suffer because the system they adopt is too successful and the so called traditionalist teams fail time and again to come to grips with it and break it down.

Fans say the players should entertain.

Ask Michael Murphy when he retires if he would hand in his all ireland medal for the sake of entertaining fans and being on the end of some humiliating hammerings. He would in his eye.

I'd rather see six or 7 teams start the year as potential All Ireland winners at the end of it, As oppose to just one, possibly two of the best footballing teams consistently fight it out inevitably year in year out. Where is the entertainment or the fun in that ?

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13655 - 06/04/2015 13:23:11    1711210

Good man wayno, well said.

Personally I would agree with Gary & do away with short kick outs, but that would be about it.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 06/04/2015 13:32:43    1711220

Posted by Waynol above:

Gaelic football is grand the way it is for **** sake.

There where 32 league games in division 1 this year.

2 of them where absolutely dire. (Dublin v Derry and Donegal v Monaghan)

The other 30 where fine.

Im sick of reading how the game is at rock bottom.

Its not.

Far from it. As i pointed out on a thread my own, there was 7-111 scored in 4 games in D1 yesterday. Thats brilliant.

Clearly the increasing league attendances will argue the point also. Why would people go if football was at such a low ebb.

Im also sick of reading about "solutions" to this problem.

The responsibility for what goes on on the pitch lies with players and management.

It should not be the responsibility of a rule book to break down a blanket defence.

Its up to individual teams. If there is no team smart enough to break down the blanket then they only have themselves to blame for these defensive tactics, because like EVERY OTHER TACTIC, IN EVERY OTHER FECKIN TEAM SPORT ON THE PLANET, The way to make a tactic fall out of favour is to show its limitations time, and time again until it becomes null and void.

In a day and age where players are training 5 times a week. and We have counties hiring sports psycologists, nutritionists, scientists, and have coaches visiting and revisiting hours upon hours of video footage, In a sport that is professional in all but name, We havin whinging fans stuck in the stoneage who simply refuse to move with the times, like most of the fossils in the GAA

The system cant be beat, lets change the rules.. Sorry but that attitude stinks.

That takes the responsibility away from managers and players.

It's also grossly unfair on sides who where in the shadows for years, with no hope of being competitive, now not only being competitive but winning silverware, being made suffer because the system they adopt is too successful and the so called traditionalist teams fail time and again to come to grips with it and break it down.

Fans say the players should entertain.

Ask Michael Murphy when he retires if he would hand in his all ireland medal for the sake of entertaining fans and being on the end of some humiliating hammerings. He would in his eye.

I'd rather see six or 7 teams start the year as potential All Ireland winners at the end of it, As oppose to just one, possibly two of the best footballing teams consistently fight it out inevitably year in year out. Where is the entertainment or the fun in that ?


One of the best posts I've ever read here. There is so much nonsense talked about the state of football today it's ridiculous. Football is now more competitive than ever. Long may it last.

BlueHeaven (Cavan) - Posts: 75 - 06/04/2015 13:48:00    1711228

yeah getting rid of short kick outs would probably help things a lot

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 06/04/2015 13:51:07    1711231

Easy peezy - Just introduce these 5 rules

http://catmalojin.com/2015/04/05/cat-malojin-solve-the-problems-with-gaelic-football/

MagnumPIG (Leitrim) - Posts: 149 - 06/04/2015 14:09:05    1711244

Any rules brought in demanding players stay in set positions would be ridiculous. Imagine the suggestion above about numbers 10-15 having to stay within the 65. If an opposition midfielder catches the ball about 60m from your goals, and number 10 goes to tackle him, all the midfielder has to do is run back 5m and number 10 has to stop at the 65 as he's barred from going any further.

It would also be effectively unenforceable, at any one point in time 20+ players could be committing the "foul" of being outside the designated lines. How would the ref see them all? Say your corner back gets the ball near his own goalmouth and starts running out past the 14, and at the same time at the other end, your wing forward steps over the 65, leaving only 3 players in the opposition half. Does the ref then blow for a free to the opposition from their own 65?

If anything, mandating that 3/5 players remain up in the opposition half will make the game even more tactical and numbers based, instead of free flowing and creative. Teams will come up with new systems and tactics to stretch the rule to its max and keep players toeing the line.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1692 - 06/04/2015 14:36:10    1711257

How about allowing the Mothers, of the Managers/Players,to stand on the sidelines to comfort and console the players when the big bad Nordies dont play the game the way its "supposed" to be played ;-)

FairShoulder (Armagh) - Posts: 333 - 06/04/2015 15:53:25    1711295

Like some people have said above bringing more rules in can have unintended consequences. Limiting handpasses or ruling that you can only handpass forward might simply suit defences even more. Dropping numbers to 13 a side will mean a lot of players will no longer be playing. As others have said it would be impossible to restrict the movement of players on the field.

Maybe incentivising attacking play is a better option but again I'm not sure how.

HighKings (Meath) - Posts: 271 - 06/04/2015 16:35:37    1711314

Surrounding of one player by four or five lads should result in an automatic free. Hear me out on this...

How many times does a blanket Defence swallow a guy up, "tackle him" and he falls to the ground and a defensive free is awarded. A lad man to man tackles and an attacking player falls down, a free is almost always awarded.

How can four lads surrounding a guy slapping him never be a free.....and a one v one tackle always be a free.

Blankets work because of poor officiating.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 06/04/2015 16:57:28    1711319

Over-playing of the handpass is the root of the problem. I wouldn't over-complicate the solution - and just revert to what the handpass was supposed to have been, a mechanism for a man in possession, but who is surrounded to get rid of the ball quickly (if he can). It was never meant as the primaryl means of a team progressing up the pitch, which it has become. So just make it tighter...

Handpass all day long if you like..........BUT, you can't handpass forwards. SORTED.

Different game then, a very simple change, and a game transformed for the better once teams get to grips with it.

Solo Run (None) - Posts: 316 - 06/04/2015 18:27:30    1711351

Alot of complex rule changes are being mentioned which could fundamentally change the game. 13 a side would only serve to play into the hands of team who are frequently prizing athleticism over skills. Making players hold positions would be difficult to enforce and reduced space in the forward line would encourage strength over speed and skill.

A potentially simple solution would be to reduce the size of the ball. Make them play with a size 4. The ball could moved alot quicker points kicked from a greater distance would make the blanket defence redundant.

However i dont feel there's a need for any great rule change. The GAA has been at the forefront of tactical innovation across all sport over the last 20 years. The possession game by Barcelona in the late 00's was being played here after Galway won the AI in 01'. Real Madrids counter attacking game last year won Mc Guiness an AI a few years previous. Les Kiss' choke tackle was pioneered by Mickey Harte.

The blanket defense is the inevitable response as the gulf between teams begins to widen. This is true across GAA and across all other sports. Invariably when faced against a much stronger team keep it tight and hope you can snatch a win in the dying minutes. I'm looking forward to the innovations that will be used over the coming season to counter this new tactic and i think Kerry showed a glimpse of it last season moving the ball via the feet into the FF line with runners off the shoulder

elvistheking (Galway) - Posts: 99 - 06/04/2015 18:34:21    1711353

I would forget changing outfield rules. Something simple like stating that all kick outs must go beyond the 45 would have a massive effect on games.

Otherwise things are grand as they are.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3026 - 06/04/2015 21:07:10    1711417

Well said Wayno, just no more Dublin/Derry type games please, don't use that tactic unless you actually feel you can WIN with it!!!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8812 - 06/04/2015 21:12:45    1711419

Good post Jay p. I could see the kick outs having to travel beyond the 45 causing more problems than it would fix

lillyboy (Kildare) - Posts: 429 - 06/04/2015 21:46:05    1711443