Paul Earley has expressed his fears about Gaelic football becoming no longer attractive to watch.

The Ireland International Rules manager, who was a member of the Football Review Committee which proposed the introduction of the black card rule, is particularly concerned about over-use of the hand-pass and the decline in high fielding.

He told The Irish Times: "One of the things we said in the (FRC) report was we wanted the GAA to look at the hand-pass on an annual basis and see if the trend changed. It's up to them at this stage.

"It's easy enough, as we have all the data prior to 2013 so all they have to do is look at 2013 and 2014 championships and league campaigns and see if there are dramatic changes.

"We have too much debate in the GAA without supporting evidence in my view and we need to gather that evidence in order to have an informed discussion.

"I don't have data, but anecdotally you'd imagine there was more hand-passing in the last year and they need to analyse that and if that is the case, do something about it and if that means limiting it - okay, it puts extra pressure on the referee but it was done in the International Rules. I know there are two referees there but football is a slower game so I don't think it's the case that it's not manageable."

Earley believes the defensive tactics employed by Kerry and Donegal in last year's All-Ireland final is already having an influence on how teams play.

"If you look back this debate has probably been prompted by last year's All-Ireland final which was quite a defensive game. Kerry certainly played more defensively than they had done throughout the championship. We had three great semi-finals which were very positive and where there was a lot of very good kicking.

"I think if we'd had a final like that this debate mightn't have been heard at all.

"It worries me, the proliferation of hand-passing and how it's becoming more difficult to dispossess players in possession by the nature of the way the game is being played.

"Many teams are just allowing opposition to retain possession out the field and the putting them under pressure in the forward line."

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