JIM GAVIN says fast football will be here to stay when the Football Review Committee’s enhancements are put on show next weekend.
The legendary Dublin boss has led the GAA’s star-studded committee tasked with tackling the ills of the game.
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Their work is nearly complete with Gavin looking forward to the ultimate outcome, declaring he thinks it is ‘hard to see it not working’.
A whopping 49 enhancements that have been trialled at sandbox games around the country will be showcased in a special inter-provincial series at Croke Park next weekend, with football as we know it set for something of a revamp.
The proposed new rules include four points for a goal, two points for a score from outside a new 40-metre arc, retaining three players in one half of the pitch and a new ‘solo and go’ option for a fouled player.
Also, kickouts must travel beyond the new arc, and goalkeepers can only receive passes from a team-mate inside the large rectangle if the team-mate is also in that area of the pitch.
A stop-clock and vanishing foam from where a mark is to be taken will also be introduced.
The full set of changes will be brought before GAA Central Council chiefs on October 26.
The alterations adopted by top brass will go before a Special Congress on November 30 where delegates will vote on what comes into play for 2025.
And Gavin insists the revolutionary changes are destined to succeed and return football to a free-flowing, attacking game.
He said: “Obviously, with this data, we’re trying to look to the future. The data that we’re seeing is high-speed running is through the roof. We’ve seen a lot more kick-passing.
“The amount of shots we’ve had on goal, it’s beyond anything I’ve seen recently and the games I’ve been involved in as manager.
“The amount of attacks in a game, defensive play — as a team attacks, another defends, so all those have increased dramatically. What’s the worst-case scenario that can happen? The worst-case scenario is that players get very fatigued and the game gets messy.
“Maybe that’s the worst case. I’m not looking through a lens. It’s just hard to see it not working. It’s what we’ve seen.”
Gavin knows there will be doubts around some of the radical changes but hopes the inter-provincial games on October 18 and 19 will do enough to convince anyone on the fence.
Indeed, he thinks they are not as radical as some may think.
Six-time All-Ireland-winning boss Gavin summoned James Horan, Éamonn Fitzmaurice, Colm Collins, Michael Murphy and Malachy O’Rourke to identify the problems with the game and come up with solutions to tackle them.
And he is confident the best brains in the business have found the answers as managers, players and fans get ready for a new era.
Cavan defeated Kildare 2-21 to 3-14 in a recent sandbox game in Mullahoran, which was dominated by free-flowing football as defensive tactics were negated.
Gavin added: “I believe when you see the game, and I don’t want to bias people because that’s unfair, but when you see it, you’ll go, ‘Well there’s not too much different about that. That is Gaelic football, it’s not Australian Rules football, rugby league or soccer’.
“‘That’s Gaelic football because you can kick it, you can get it, you can shoulder, you can hand-pass, you can go backwards, you can go forwards’.
“I would be very conscious of that particular point that we don’t come up with something that isn’t the game we grew up on.
“There was a gentleman in the stand in Mullahoran who said it was a long time since he saw Cavan score 2-21.
“He meant it in a very positive way.
“He was very enthused by what he saw. I’m very conscious that this is the easiest bit. Doing all that work, it’s easy.
“It’s showcasing it . . . counties themselves need to say, ‘What we’ve seen, this is the right thing to do’. This is our interpretation of what we’ve been asked to do.”
Key rule changes
- Throw-ins at the start of each half to be contested by just one player from each team.
- A goalkeeper can only receive a pass from a team-mate inside the opposing half, or inside his large rectangle once the team-mate passing to him is also occupying that space.
- Kickouts must cross a new 40-metre arc but players are not required to be outside the 20m line.
- A shot kicked over the bar from on or outside the 40m arc is worth two points.
- A goal is worth four points.
- Players have the option to solo-and-go when fouled instead of kicking a free.
- Teams must keep at least three players in each half at all times.
- An advanced mark can be claimed inside the 20m line if the ball is delivered from outside the 45m line.
- A player who commits a foul must hand the ball to an opponent in ‘a prompt and respectful manner’.
- A 50m penalty will follow a tactical foul that delays or interferes with a free or sideline kick, or dissent over a referee’s decision.
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