The Football Review Committee (FRC) has tweaked regulations around the two-point score to prevent defending players from exploiting a loophole whereby touching the ball before it goes over the crossbar reduces the effort to just one point.
Several goalkeepers circumvented the rule on two-pointers this season by getting a hand on the ball as it went over the bar – which under the existing rules cut the shot to a one-point score.
However, ahead of Saturday’s meeting of special congress – at which votes will take place on introducing the FRC’s proposals on a permanent basis – there is an amendment proposed to remove that flaw in the rule.
The original directive stated the shot had to be kicked from outside the 40-metre arc and travel between the posts “without the ball having been touched by any other player”.
RM Block
But that has now been changed to stipulate that a two-point score would be awarded from a kick outside the arc “provided no other player from that player’s team has touched the ball”.
In other words, if the goalkeeper or a defending player touches the ball before it goes over the bar, then it would still be deemed a two-point score.
One exception will remain, though, from converted 45s. The proposal adds: “When the ball is played over the crossbar between the posts from a 45, one point is awarded.”
The chink in the two-point score was an area that generated plenty of debate during the season. One of the more high-profile incidents occurred in the Connacht final when Galway goalkeeper Connor Gleeson got his hand on a long-distance free by Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue, reducing it from a two to a one-point score. Galway ultimately won the game by two points.
Gleeson’s Galway team-mate Rob Finnerty later admitted he felt the matter needed addressing.
“It’s a strange rule,” said the Galway forward at the time. “If you can get the ball over from 50 or 45 metres, I don’t see why you wouldn’t get the reward of the two points. Obviously it worked in our favour at the weekend so we’ll take it.
“Connor has done that in a few games now. It’s obviously something he’s been looking at and he’s done it well so fair play to him.”
It is one of several tweaks to the FRC’s initial proposals that will be discussed at special congress in Croke Park on Saturday. The meeting will open at 10.30am, with voting on the first of 62 motions on the clár scheduled to begin at 10.40.
As of Tuesday evening, a GAA spokesman was unable to confirm if FRC chairman and current Irish presidential candidate Jim Gavin will be in attendance on Saturday.
Among the other amendments includes a penalty if a player moves from the sideline or 45-metre line before the referee has thrown the ball in the air to signal the start of a half.
The proposed new rule states: “For a player to move from the sideline or 45m line before the referee has thrown in the ball to start the game or to restart it after half-time or extra-time. Penalty: Free kick from the midpoint of the halfway line”.
Another motion concerns the area of dissent and seeks to have an additional breach added for “disruptive conduct”. Team officials found guilty of overstepping the line in the Misconduct at Games would be punished by having a free awarded against them on their team’s 13m line. It was previously the 20m line.
Also, where such an infraction occurs immediately before the start of the game or during the half-time interval, the match would start or restart with a 13m free.
There is also a motion to give sideline officials more power to alert referees to rule breaches.
Motion 57 states: “The sideline official, where neutral, shall bring to the attention of the Referee, during a break in play, any instances of foul play, in particular, rough or dangerous play, striking, hitting or kicking, or unauthorised incursions on to the field of play or other infraction of rule by a team official which have not been noticed by the referee”.
The only non-FRC related motion on the agenda will focus on the manufacturing of gear. This motion was withdrawn from the clár just hours before the start of congress last February but will now be tabled on Saturday.
It seeks to remove the wording “Shall be of Irish manufacture”. Instead the new regulation would state: “All jerseys, shorts, stockings, tracksuits [tops and bottoms] and kitbags, worn and/or used for official matches, in prematch or post-match television or video interviews, player walk-ups and photographs, shall be manufactured by a GAA Licensed Kit Manufacturer. This requirement shall also apply to replica playing gear”.
