The league ended for most counties at the weekend and I was glued to the television, taking in as many matches as I could. It was crazy stuff with teams staying up one minute and going down the next. You could see how the new rules all added to the drama.
There’s been only two rounds so far under the amended rules, so it’s a bit early to be jumping to hard conclusions but the game has been radically improved and as far as I can see, the problem areas have been mostly sorted out with the tweaks.
So, of course, it’s early days but they look as if they’re working well.
We got a taste of this from Kerry over the past two weeks. Fast inside lines and lads that will move the ball by kicking it
In less than a fortnight, the championship starts. Clocks go forward next week and when the field dries up and the ball is moving that bit quicker, it’s going to open up defences for fun.
We got a taste of this from Kerry over the past two weeks. Fast inside lines and lads that will move the ball by kicking it. You can see the scoring rates at the minute. As Jack O’Connor said, the scorelines have got like hurling.
Division Two has provided a lot of entertainment: more two-pointers nearly every week and higher scoring. It’s fair to say that more scores don’t necessarily mean better football but in a game where defensive systems had taken a stranglehold, I think it’s been a justified rebalance.
There has been some opinion that the two-pointers are a bit of a distortion but I believe they’ve done their job. In a wide-ranging consultation at the start of the Football Review Committee’s work, various stakeholders were asked about their favourite football skills and two of the top three responses were “kicking” and “long-range point (outside 30m) scoring”.
Over the weeks of the league, we’ve seen plenty of that with teams getting their best shooters on the ball to take on shots from the 40m arc.
The tweaks have worked well. The key 4v3 to stop the goalkeeper becoming an extra player in attack has worked out very well
The new rules have probably revolutionised the whole game, which has changed in a few weeks as regards pace and attack as well as encouraging individual marking rather than zonal defence with 15 behind the ball.
I think the tweaks have worked well. The key 4v3 to stop the goalkeeper becoming an extra player in attack has worked out very well. I think that’s after solving the problem of the ball going too lateral.
It’s a lot fairer and at the same time the goalie can still come up and get involved, which we’ve seen with Rory Beggan and Niall Morgan but you still have to put a defender back to keep the numbers at four.
The only “structure breach” as it’s called that I noticed was in Omagh and the Dublin-Tyrone match. Teams have been very disciplined in obeying the new rule and those fouls are down, helped as well by getting rid of penalties for inadvertent breach when someone oversteps the line, realises and goes back immediately.
Even the hooter, which seemed to attract less enthusiasm than anything else at first. Allowing players one more play when the hooter sounds is a better way to end a match and it’s up to the teams and players how they adjust to it.
Managers appear to be going with the flow at this stage now that the rules are settled
It’s a more sportsmanlike finish to a game, if that makes sense. Once the hooter goes and you’re in possession, the game’s not over until the ball goes dead, so you can either kick it out over the sideline, kick it wide, or even kick a score although it won’t always make a difference.
Managers appear to be going with the flow at this stage now that the rules are settled. It hasn’t been easy for them, losing some of the control they had. Obviously, the start of it is the kick-outs. Now, with 60 to 65 per cent of them going up the field, it’s become a 50-50 break. That adds that chaos to the game which is very, very exciting for the supporter.
It’s not as exciting for a manager – and especially for all the more defensive coaches – but it has opened up the game no end for spectators.
The pace of the game has just gone through the roof, and I think players are starting to enjoy playing football. I even noticed it here at my own club, which was playing the other day. I was talking to a couple of the players there and they were so enthusiastic about it.
It’s a lot easier for a referee because the discipline side of it is brilliant, handing back the ball, no backchat and with the “solo and go” a big incentive not to hang around confronting opponents because the ball is gone.
The only thing I’d say is that referees should probably apply the dissent rule a little bit more – not so much at intercounty, which has run smoothly in that sense but at club level.
The new rules are there to help the player, game and referee.
They’re the vital cogs of the game. Then obviously you have the managers and all of them and the supporters and spectators. But if a guy’s playing a game on a dirty March or April night in Stradbally, it’s the player and the referee that are central.
I can’t wait for the championship at this stage, just to see what’s going to happen
A slight issue that has arisen is the difficulty of administering cards for what’s happened because the play has moved on immediately. Referees are reluctant to bring it back. Nine times out of 10, cards probably won’t be relevant but I believe if needed, play should wait until they’ve been shown.
I can’t wait for the championship at this stage, just to see what’s going to happen. There are six or seven teams that have a chance of winning this. Have we ever been in that position before?
