O'Sullivan: Give rules a chance

January 13, 2010

Limerick manager Mickey Ned O'Sullivan
Mickey Ned O'Sullivan has urged managers, players and supporters to give the experimental playing rules a chance. The Limerick football boss insists it is important to keep an 'open mind' about the new rules and that people should make an informed judgement only after they have been implemented in the pre-season competitions and the National League. "I'd prefer to be positive rather than negative about these developments. They're going to be in action now and I think we'll have to wait and see how their experiments work out," he said in the Irish Examiner. "But I do think the GAA need to define the type of Gaelic football they want and then devise the rules that will achieve that outcome. I think what is happening in the GAA at the moment is that we're looking in isolation at things that need to be rectified. "We should look at the bigger picture. We must ask, what sort of a game do we need? "We want a game that is exciting, continuous, with no silly stoppages and that promotes the better skills of the game. For instance, the area of physical contact needs to be properly defined. There are enough brains in the GAA to define the game that they want. There's no doubt about it, it isn't the finished article but they've got to go a different way. "I have no objection to changes like these being brought in. It is good that we're not static and that we're trying out different things. Overall it's about keeping an open mind, to look and see what happens." The former Kerry captain welcomes the introduction of the mark and changes that have been made to the taking of penalties. "I think the mark is a step forward. We'll have a look at it now and see can it improve us. It's worth a try and worth seeing can you reward the high fielder in Gaelic football. "This will hopefully cut out the major fouling around the middle. At the moment when a guy comes down after a great catch, he is then surrounded by three or four guys swarming around him and can get blown for over-carrying. That is a problem. "The introduction of the mark might help bring that element of continuity that is lacking in Gaelic football and bring more mobility to it. "I also think that the change to the penalty that has been made is a very good idea. It has been very difficult to score a penalty in Gaelic football over the years. If you compare it to soccer, then it's a lot easier for soccer players with the distance the kick is from the goal and the width of the goal. "If you think about it, then normally when you are awarded a penalty in Gaelic football, you have just been deprived of a real goalscoring chance. In that situation you deserve a goal and certainly a situation where you have a real chance of converting the penalty. It's very difficult to score one now."

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