The proposed rule changes announced during the week by Jim Gavin and the Football Review Committee got everybody talking and the one comment I've heard again and again is, 'if those rules come in, it’ll completely change the game'.
For a team of people whose brief was to effectively do just that, it’s a brave indication that they are doing what was asked of them.
We have got used to rule changes over the years. in fact, with it being a bit of a tinker here, tinker there job, we got fed up and shouted ‘please just leave the game be’. But we all knew the game wasn’t right and its much waited on evolution has never appeared.
Various suggestions were made but it was hard to see any of them truly working. Yet, these set of proposals are different gravy. And the key thing there is, it is a ‘set’. Several are directly linked in that they are needed to allow the other to be possible and, not only that, together they end up greater than the sum of their parts.
It’s very notable that they practically all benefit the team on the ball. Defenders across the country may get out their placards because if ever there was a case for discrimination, then they could argue this is it!
It is the attacking team that has such varied options and the defensive team with all the headaches. Shoot from range for two points, or if an opposition defence presses out, cut in and go for your four-point goal. If the opposition sets up, launch it long and try gain a mark where you can still go for goal knowing you’ve got the advantage.
There is much debate over how the three men up the pitch rule will be refereed. I believe firmly it is possible to officiate it. It will be second nature if realising that it is very crowded to glance back and ensure that there are three up the pitch and I’m damn sure opponents will let the referee know if he doesn’t happen to spot it.
No doubt that will come out in the wash of these trial games but if the referees have indicated they think they can do it, then for such an impactful rule it’s well worth a try.
The likes of the kickout from the six-yard box I’m less convinced to be honest. Kickouts are currently the one area of the game that bring great excitement. The six-yard rule would end the era of the damage being done when teams are on the high press which I think would be a pity.
Some potentially negative side effects to the other rule may be an increase in fouling in the one-point zone to ensure teams just take a one-point effort rather than work a goal or back out for a two-pointer.
It could potentially result in either a basketball style foul count for a team inside that scoring arc or with all frees inside the zone having the choice of being hit from the 40-metre line.
Such quibbles though pale into the background when considered against the body of work they have already brought to bear. I’m informed it has not been a walk in the park and about the long and frequent meetings it has taken to get to this point.
It is very clear how much the committee has taken on board feedback from the various external bodies, and particularly, their grassroots survey. I fully expect a late surge of completed questionnaires given how clearly responses were valued and it wasn’t just the token outreach exercise we feared.
It is testimony to the people in the room, widely recognised as some of the best minds in our game, that they are so open to outside opinions and actively going after it. That hunger to learn and absence of ego says it all about them and tells me we are in very safe hands.
So much so, that the drawback of losing our old traditional scoring system of goals and points to accommodate the long-range efforts (i.e 2-10 to 1-13) to presumably become something like 2-4-6 to 1-2-11, seems less sacrilegious as we potentially take this step into the unknown.
With all this chat about the rules and the impact on our games' future, there is very much the risk of this week’s matches being forgotten about. They were already facing an uphill battle thanks to the feel of mid-season doldrums that the new competition structures have induced, but with Euro 2024 starting and the heroics going on in the athletics, they really have failed to capture the imagination.
Yet this weekend has worked out exactly how those designing it would have hoped. Every single game has something riding on it and every single position in the tables is up for grabs.
Several of the ties could produce great clashes yet there remains a palpable lack of excitement. That same sense of lethargy was there last year and essentially resulted in us missing what was a crazy final day of drama where numerous teams' fate was decided with final plays in the dying moments.
For those who designed the structure, their plan has worked as hoped but it simply hasn’t clicked yet with the supporters. While it was to be a three-year trial, it would come as no surprise if it too faces major surgery this winter. Maybe if Jim Gavin has a bit of time on his hands...
The key for us all I suppose is to suspend our thoughts on the future for now. Whether we are ready for it or not, this weekend will be season defining for many teams.
Galway-Armagh, Derry-Westmeath, Tyrone-Cork and Dublin-Mayo are four potentially brilliant ties. In the Tailteann Cup too, this week really marks the chance for teams to step up and grab something very credible from the year. The tie there for me is Fermanagh against Antrim.
It has the makings on paper of a brilliant weekend's football, whether we are up for it or not. If, and I accept it’s a big 'if', the rule proposals come through in any way similar to currently proposed, then we are living in history right now and watching the last games of the ‘old rules’.
For that alone I’d encourage us all to tune in and I’d be very hopeful, that should we do, the drama will make us glad we did.
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