With release of the FRC Report only hours away, what recommendations
Do we think it will contain -
I expect it to be modest - the Mark, Handpass Limit of Three, the Sin Bin,
The Pick Up and most of all, clearer definition of the Tackle.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3322 - 10/12/2012 11:59:17    1308496

The Committee unveiled its proposals at a press conference in Croke Park this morning and they suggest awarding a 'mark' for any clean catch of a kick-out on or beyond the 45m line.

Also on the table is a proposal that a player issued with a yellow card would have to be replaced for the remainder of the game.

After a team receives three yellow cards, no substitute of further yellow-carded players (ie team will be down a player).

The FRC also want a public clock, similar to the system used in Ladies football, to be introduced in Croke Park and all grounds used for provincial and All-Ireland series matches.

And they are also seeking that the duration of all adult matches be 70 minutes. Club games are currently played over 60 minutes.

I have to say I def agree with the mark & yellows.

The yellow card rule is to stamp out the cynical element of the game

ballybannongael (Down) - Posts: 547 - 10/12/2012 13:28:18    1308559

Were all these not introduced a few years ago? 2009 I think maybe 2010. I definatly remember being at league games with the Mark and players who recieved a yellow card getting substituted. They didn't work then. Why will they now?

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 10/12/2012 14:08:15    1308576

10/12/2012 14:08:15
gotmilk
Were all these not introduced a few years ago? 2009 I think maybe 2010. I definatly remember being at league games with the Mark and players who recieved a yellow card getting substituted. They didn't work then. Why will they now?
I think they did work but some quite profile managers didnt think they worked so the idea's didnt stay.
If done properly and kept on they should work well.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 10/12/2012 14:35:41    1308601

gotmilk
County: Fermanagh
Posts: 983

They did work (from the sideline the mentors didn't like it), the mark would go an awful long way to making football far more attractive and open. I can bet there will be howls of derision from up North.

I don't agree with a player being dismissed (albeit replaced) for a yellow.

But if these do come in no one can really complain given the way the game is going.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4956 - 10/12/2012 14:48:33    1308609

If the yellow card rules come into effect like it did the last time it won't work. What should have been a yellow was being replaced with a tick and what should have been a red was now a yellow meaning that another player could come on to replace the exisiting player. It was paying to foul and be cynical.
The mark will not do any favours for the game either. I think it will slow the game down quite a bit.

PS what is wrong with the game? I think watching a Donegal or Tyrone in full flight is wonderful viewing.

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 10/12/2012 15:09:37    1308632

Rather than speeding up the game, the mark has the potential to actually slow it down. The last time this was tried, the following happened:
1) good fileders were "spoiled" resulting in more breaking ball rather than more high catches
2) teams didn't compete for their opponent's kick-out: instead they funnelled back and put their blanket defence in place.
This proposed change is misguided.

The obvious way to speed up the game and create a more open spectacle, namely moving to 13 a side, has been ignored by the FRC. That doesn't surprise me as i attended one of the workshops, and it was obviuos that the committee was working off an already-agreed agenda, and didn't take any alternative views into account.

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 10/12/2012 15:18:32    1308640

How much longer are we going to have to look at frees being given for lads supposedly pickin the ball from the ground? The sooner that rule is scraped the better. How is a player of any standard club or county meant to put his boot under a ball that is rollin towards him at speed. Time to speed the game up and get rid of the pick up rule... Any thoughts?

croker16 (Louth) - Posts: 349 - 10/12/2012 15:23:11    1308691

croker16
County: Louth
Posts: 30

1308691
How much longer are we going to have to look at frees being given for lads supposedly pickin the ball from the ground? The sooner that rule is scraped the better. How is a player of any standard club or county meant to put his boot under a ball that is rollin towards him at speed. Time to speed the game up and get rid of the pick up rule... Any thoughts?

i think its a skill of the game that you should have mastered and if you havent then you shouldnt be playing. i agree with previous poster. reduce teams to 13 and or increase playing time to 80 mins. players are much fitter nowadays, this would create more space. all other rules are Ok if referees would interpret them correctly.

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5522 - 10/12/2012 15:28:52    1308699

Here we go again thinkering for thinkerings sake. With the introduction of the Mark you are basically saying to teams your midfielders need to be 6ft 5 with a jump on them, straight away we have 99.99% of the population ruled out from 2 of the main positions on the gaa pitch now thats really bright and radical thinking alright, As for the pickup I would have gone the other way and said that the pickup is a skill of the game and insists that referees do their job and implement the rule. If it is to be thinkered with then why not implement something to do with the ''rolling ball'. Agree with some aspects like defining the tackle and the totting up process for yellow cards but all the rest are just not required.

cuchulainn1 (Louth) - Posts: 246 - 10/12/2012 16:01:15    1308717

Just to keep things tidy, here is a rough guide to the 18 Proposals being recommended by the Football Rules Committee.

1: CCC control fixtures within county, not the County Board
2: Manager's Charter becomes a formal agreement
3: Mandatory qualifications for managers/coaches for adult club and county teams
4: Distinction between 'accidental' and 'deliberate' fouls
5: Publication of a laypersons guide to rules
6: Improve refereeing standards by improving links between committees
7: Full and proper enforcement by referees of the rule governing field incursions
8: Recruitment drive for referees among recently retired players
9: Before all games, referee should introduce himself to both teams in dressing rooms
10a: Players issued with a yellow card will be subbed (max of 3);
10b: Total subs allowed increase from 5 to 6;
10c: 3 yellow cards = 2 game suspension (inter-county only)
11: Move ball forward 30m rather than 13m where necessary
12: Proposed new definition of 'the tackle'
13: Clarity about the advantage rule
14: A 'mark' awarded for clean catch from a kickout over the 45m line
15: Ball can be picked from ground if player has at least one foot on the ground (not while lying on the ground)
16: Allow a point to be scored with the open hand
17: Introduction of a clock, operated by a separate official, which is stopped as directed by the referee
18: Adult club games increase in time from 60mins to 70mins

I'm not exactly clear of the process now. Do these proposals go forward to the Management Committee for approval, with those approved brought to Congress in April? Or do they all go straight to Congress to be voted on?

EnolaGay (Tyrone) - Posts: 653 - 10/12/2012 16:30:38    1308732

Moving the ball forward 30 yards would lead to very few decisions being question anywhere in a players own half. Seems a bit much to be honest.

Increasing games to 70 mins is a great idea tho. Waiting for that for a very long time.

Jinxie (Meath) - Posts: 6347 - 10/12/2012 17:18:02    1308765

Are there any proposals on changing the championship format?

Timzil12 (Limerick) - Posts: 13 - 10/12/2012 17:55:37    1308792

Timzil12
County: Limerick
Posts: 11

Are there any proposals on changing the championship format?

omahant is personally looking after that himself.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3692 - 10/12/2012 18:01:33    1308793

That "yellow card and you're subbed" craic is absolute bull. Yellow cards are there for a reason, one yellow card tackle and you're warned, another you're off. That's fair. This proposed rule is infuriating to be honest. 1 foul and you're off??? F*ck that, prefer to play soccer.

killer_88_ (Mayo) - Posts: 2040 - 10/12/2012 18:03:29    1308794

So disappointing. This committee had such a great opportunity to meet and thrash out some real ideas which would work. But instead we are given this list of new Mickey Mouse rules. An under 12 team would come up with better than this.

1. Distinction between accidental and deliberate fouls. Referees at present struggle to know when there is a foul at all. They "let the game flow" far too often and are fooled by players taking too many steps and getting frees from holding a defenders arm to drag themselves down. Not a chance of them deciding what is deliberate and what's accidental. A foul is a foul. Why should it matter if its on purpose or not.

2. Players issued with a yellow card will be subbed (max of 3). Will these three subs come out of a team's allocation of 5? This will suit cynical teams. Rather than a cynical defender picking up a yellow card and then having to watch himself for the rest of the game, he will be replaced by a fresh guy. A quality forward can now be fouled by at least 3 players to the point of them getting yellow cards. Secondly, this will help teams with stronger squads- let's say Longford play Kerry. Paul Barden and Mickey Quinn getting yellow cards and not playing the rest of the game is a huge blow, rather than Kerry losing Declan O'Sullivan and Tomas O Se whose replacements will be almost as good.

3. A mark being awarded for clean catches from a kickout outside the 45. First of all, this is Gaelic football, not Aussie Rules. Second, there is merit in teams like Dublin's Cluxton placing accurate short kickouts. Third, this will slow down the game, unless the midfielder is allowed play on if they want. Fourth, this will lead to a lot more cases of midfielders being played off the ball to prevent them getting to where the kickout is being placed to begin with.

4. Picking ball from ground. Again, there is nothing wrong with the existing rule. There is no need to change the way things are done at present. The need is there at present to change how referees work this rule- they don't give frees which are deserved. If every player pushed in the back, kicked or shouldered when picking the ball got a free, as they should, things would run just fine.

Here's a proposal. Ask referees to read the rule book. Give them a whistle each and instruct them on how to use it. Tell them that in each match, whenever a rule is broken to blow the whistle in accordance with the rule book. Tell them that no matter how often teams commit fouls or complain, keep giving a free each and every time a rule is broken. If both teams end with 9 players, so be it.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2581 - 10/12/2012 18:27:39    1308801

Good to see them looking to address and define the tackle. Think that introducing the tap and go option might give the benefit back to an attacking team though when a lad is deliberately pulled back when through on goal, a 13 yard free and time to for the defence to get back and pack the square is hardly fair for a goal scoring chance cynically taken away.

Not sure on the idea of introducing a mark, could slow down games a good bit more, overall though only fair that a player winning possession gets a chance to play it away without being crowded out or surrounded.

The clock / timing issue is something that probably should have been copied from ladies football a while ago, would prefer the rugby approach whereby the ball needs to go dead before the game is over rather than waiting for it to land or its flight to end.

Increasing the 13 metre sanction to 30 metres would see a lot less arguing with refs but 30 metres seems a bit harsh, players mightn't be able to place the ball down and retreat immediately, surely there'd be a grey area here?

The yellow card proposal is a bit of mess, not exactly fair that one lad who makes a bad challenge misses the rest of the match and his team are down to 14.

To be honest I don't think there's a lot wrong with the game as it is. Sort out the cynical fouling, time wasting and define the tackle and you'd go a long, long way to doing pretty much all you can to improve things. It's clear that people want to change / introduce a handpass rule but how exactly would that make it a better game? As the report says; "Gaelic football is much more of a possession game than in the past. The average time for a team to hold possession of the ball is now around twenty seconds, double what it was thirty years ago. The change has been achieved through more hand-passing and a consequential reduction in long kicking."

Teams should hardly be forced to kick the ball long now should they? All that'd do is shorten the time of possession and more often than not gift the ball to the opposition. Then again you're likely to get it back within 10 seconds or so...

Proposals for the sake of proposals as far as some of these go.

if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3692 - 10/12/2012 18:52:50    1308815

Were most of these not tried out at some stage in the league before.

Horsebox77 (Kerry) - Posts: 5491 - 10/12/2012 19:14:47    1308833

icehonesty
County: Wexford

Here's a proposal. Ask referees to read the rule book. Give them a whistle each and instruct them on how to use it. Tell them that in each match, whenever a rule is broken to blow the whistle in accordance with the rule book. Tell them that no matter how often teams commit fouls or complain, keep giving a free each and every time a rule is broken. If both teams end with 9 players, so be it.

Agree 100%. And if the rules were enforced in every game for a couple of months, you watch the free count go down and down and the game improve as red and yellow cards are implemented correctly. Such a waste of time this review of football. Nonsense. Just enforce the current rules. These silly rules have been tried before. Cant believe this is what they've come up with - what have they been doing for the last few months? The yellow card system is a joke. Refs would just give yellows instead of reds under this system. its human nature. It wont work

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 10/12/2012 19:23:15    1308840

EnolaGay
County: Tyrone
Posts: 552

On reading the list and hearing reading elsewhere the proposals on the whole they are mostly good:

"Cynical/tactical fouling and deliberate time-wasting were among the top dislikes among survey respondents."

That is what the 30 metre rule is about, while you can argue that 13 metre's is too short - 30 metres is probably too excessive with 20 metres about right. To be honest no idea why the opposition to the mark - certainly a huge enhancement to the game.

The balance is been tilted back towards speed and football skill ( the pick up as is current is frankly a ridiculous rule) keeping the game flowing and penalising anyone trying to stop the game flowing with incessant fouling and excruciating time wasting - throwing the ball away a yellow card! How I wish

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4956 - 10/12/2012 19:24:05    1308842