One look – us Irish fathers know the one. We've been caught. At it again. It’s like we can’t help ourselves. We try to explain ourselves, deflect, plead innocence but it’s no use.
Football conversations this time of year, they draw you in. Sure, they maybe shouldn’t draw you in so much that you forget to notice your child leaving the pirate pool and getting lost enough to end up with the lifeguard but still.
The look from my better half meant I knew she knew. That it was Cian Ward, of Meath and Smaller Fish fame, I was chatting bought me zero mitigation. Caught again chatting ball when supposed to be at other things, there goes the brownie points.
The topic which cost me? What else but the rules.
Fair enough it was a few weeks ago when the Allianz Football League was heading towards preordained finals and before we had that Derry and Dublin game, but for much of this year I doubt it’ll be very far from the topic of discussion.
Even after that breathless league final, analysis focused not just on the brilliant mayhem in the game but on where this leaves the group of people charged with improving it.
Jarlath Burns speech reflected perfectly the 'hell yeah’ emotion that a game like that conjures up in us. I could imagine him late that night as he’d settled himself, ringing Jim Gavin and, channelling his best Liam Neeson, telling him, ‘if you hurt this game I love, I will find you, and I will kill you’.
The impossible puzzle facing his rules committee was laid bare last weekend and, I’ve no doubt, will be in full view this weekend as we enter the provincial championships.
The game can be at its best ever and worst ever on the same weekend. Or, as in the Armagh Donegal final, in the same game. When teams are very defensive and cautious it’s dire. When it opens up, it’s amazing. Yet so much of the brilliant attacking play we now witness has been borne out of necessity to break down strong defences, so to just want it open and mad all the time isn’t the solution.
The possible unintended consequences of any rule changes will be very difficult to see and, with the game heading in its most positive direction for years, there will be a delicate balance to strike.
For me, a spring clean of what’s currently there and addressing some of the longest standing issues could be the best initial steps forward.
The forward mark needs given our best regards and put on a plane to Switzerland. The black card, a massively knee-jerk reaction right from the start, needs done away with or refined. It can punish harshly the most innocuous of things yet be powerless against blatant cynical fouling if in the defined list in the rule book. Rather than specific definitions a broad, ‘any blatant foul or blocking of an opponent where there is no legitimate attempt to tackle the ball’ could suffice.
More importantly though, the tackle needs looked at. I remember a time when a two-man tackle was a foul. Now three or four men surrounding the man in possession is fair game. It was something my father-in-law said to me several months ago and has stayed with me since – only one man should be allowed to tackle at any one time. That the same man had more than his fair share of run-ins with the disciplinary side of our game doesn’t reduce the validity of his point.
JIM GAVIN TARGETS 2025 FOR POSSIBLE RULE TRIALS
If it became a free as soon as a player was doubled-up on, it, in one fell swoop lessens the tactical benefit of having a packed defence and also encourages those one v one battles we all love.
Forwards would be less afraid of trying to take on their man. At present if he chooses to go into contact in a packed defence the chance of being swallowed up in a swarm even if he beats the first man is high and he’ll head to bed with the shouts of ‘stay out of contact’ still ringing in his ears.
Speaking of the man in the middle. The pressure on our officials has increased in the same manner that the game has shifted up through the gears.
They may now be mic’d up to their umpires and linesmen but against the multitude of camera angles, analysts and keyboard warriors, their split-second decisions have never been open to greater scrutiny and that’s before you get to our legalese heavy appeal process.
For me a few things should happen. Crucially, before submitting their match report, they should be invited to review the games available footage with their team of officials to determine their satisfaction with key on-field decisions and identify any additional actions they wish to take, e.g. for an incident that went unseen or exaggeration of contact/injury.
From there, we could go back to the era of the referee’s report being binding barring the most obvious of miscarriages. Yes, this might only be applied for now at inter-county level but, where trickle-down theory is proving to be hokum in the world of economics, in the GAA world, the phenomenon of inter-county developments making their way into the club game is clear to see.
The improved consistency of decisions, ability to clamp down on play acting and the decreased running to appeals committee that could result would all be hugely beneficial to our game. Additionally, and not unrelated, the proper remuneration for such a role needs looked at while a willingness to be respectfully questioned post-game or at the very least an explanatory and honest reflection from a central body, like seen with Premier League referees, would facilitate much more informed discussions in the aftermath of games.
Needless to say, with a full round of provincial games coming up, the priority list to be solved by the Jarlath Burns’ rules team will very likely change again this weekend.
Watch Monaghan v Cavan in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates from all matches on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Follow a live blog on New York v Mayo in the Connacht Football Championship on Sunday from 8pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
