Simple rule that can save football
AT AFL FOR TWEAK OUR GAME BADLY NEEDS 50-METRE FREES KEY TO ENDING CYNICISM
bit more chaos.
The hugely-successful mark, brought in by a Jarlath Burns committee, has been a massive success and sorted us for our fix of high fielding.
(Saying that, the quick kick out is seriously threatening that — and is one area that might need to be looked at).
It’s about having the nous and foresight to see ahead.
To weigh up the potential unintended consequences of any alterations, while keeping the changes as simple and effective as possible for already overloaded referees, and players.
And they need not necessarily be rule changes, just tweaks in how the game is refereed.
A few months ago Kieran Donaghy was asked if he could change one thing about Gaelic football what would it be?
Donaghy has a serious football brain, and having played basketball at a high level has a tactical nous about him.
You only had to watch him playing football to work that out.
Easiest
“I have said it before,” he started.
“The most simple and effective rule that would cut out a lot of your nonsense is the Aussie Rules 50-metre rule.
“It is the easiest one to officiate. It is the easiest one to bring in.
“If you win a free in the half-back line late in the game and a team is stopping you taking it, it is 50 metres down the field.
“You plonk it down and put it over the bar and it ends that.
“It stops fellows toe poking the ball away. It stops messing with free takers when they are trying to take quick frees when they are chasing the game.
“That would be the easiest one to bring in that would alleviate a lot of the messing that goes on late on in games when teams are either chasing a game or a team is trying to get back into a game.”
Donaghy is 100-per-cent right.
We would get far more of the exciting finishes everyone wants to see, rather than the ugly cynicism fest we see in game after game where teams are defending a lead late on.
Donaghy’s rule change would alleviate those hugely cynical fouls at a turnover, which slow the game down and allow opponents to get back and set up defensively.
Ultimately, this damages the product.
It leads to less excitement and scores and more sideways and backwards play.
And whether it’s down to a referee’s inability to work out how cynical and damaging these fouls on turnovers are, or flaws in the rulebook, they are never properly punished.
They should be an automatic yellow card. Give the refs the power to decide what is a cynical attempt to stop a quick breakaway.
Referees
Premier League officials are able to work it out. Why not GAA referees?
A few yellows early in a game, allied to a 50-metre penalty, and players would soon stop doing what their managers and teammates expect them to do.
The game would be speeded up. We’d see far more scores.
And, crucially, the culture would change from cynicism to creativity.
In the modern game we’ve had to accept that a team with a three or four point lead late on has earned the right to cynically foul.
It’s a disgrace that the rulemakers have allowed football to arrive at that point, where the punishment rarely fits the crime.
And it has already done untold damage to the game, the reputation of the sport and probably participation rates as well.
Think about it. Any free interference from 100 metres out is a potential point scoring opportunity.
This would cut out the cynicism at the drop of a hat.
Maybe Gaelic football could begin to realise its full potential and be the game it could be.
And GAA people could stop all the negativity towards a game that is bashed by its own like no other.
First, we have to accept there’s a reason for that, bar some people from other sports not liking Gaelic Football and putting the boot in at any given opportunity.
Club
Donaghy went on to explain: “I watch a lot of Aussie Rules and it’s (50 metre penalty) one of the cleanest, quickest and one of the best rules they have.
“We take an awful lot of rules from the Aussie Rules, but I don’t know why we are not looking (right) at that one.
“I think even in the club game and fellas mouthing to referees.
“I think it would end all that pretty quickly if the punishment for mouthing or foul language was 50 metres from where the incident occurs.
“With the freetakers we have in the game now, you are punishing the scoreboard and once you start punishing the scoreboard I think it cleans up everybody’s act pretty quickly.”
As Donaghy points out, it would seriously increase the respect levels towards referees, which is a huge problem in GAA.
So put the empirical evidence folder away and use some common sense.
We don’t even need a committee for this one.
It’s a no-brainer. Get it going next week.
Sounds so damn easy. Well, it is.