The thing – and we’ll refrain from saying whether it’s a good or bad thing – about the new Gaelic football rules is that everybody has an opinion on them.
In the media, the changes have been fairly well-received. On the other hand, team managers and coaches, those who have had to effectively start from scratch this year, have been more reticent in embracing the new order.
The whole thing has taken some getting used to and, in such situation, it’s natural to have teething problems as players, officials and spectators adjust. One person who has seen more than most is football analyst and coach Stephen O’Meara of The Square D podcast and gaaprostats.com.
“The issue I see at the moment is, no doubt the game is more entertaining to look at – as things stand, and I caveat that because some basic stuff still hasn’t been worked out yet,” he tells Irish Country Living.
“There have been some horrendous games, but they were almost papered over. On the television, they highlighted the Kerry-Derry game for being entertaining and compared a league match to last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
“I do feel that there has been a PR operation to accentuate looking at the good games and completely glossing over the brutal games.”
While the notion of a public relations campaign is subjective, what is harder to debate is the data thrown up by the games played under the Football Review Committee’s new rules. The views on the data may vary, though.
“With the 11v11 [where a maximum of 11 outfield players can defend in their half of the pitch and a maximum of 11 outfield players can attack in the opposition half], the perception is that the open spaces afford more opportunity for silky football – it actually affords more opportunity for efficient football,” Stephen says.
“I expected the shots-to-phases percentage to go down as it moved more towards man-on-man, but that hasn’t happened, yet anyway.
“Donegal and Derry, in their Ulster championship game, set a new record – Donegal got shots off 91% of the time, Derry got shots on 88%.
“The expected score per ten phases was 7.1 for Donegal, 7.0 for Derry. This is smashing all previous records, though obviously you have the caveat of two-pointers.
“That record, 91 and 88, breaks the one set in 2022 by – guess who? – Derry and Donegal in that drab Ulster final that everybody gave out about! It was 1-12 to 1-12 for the 70 minutes, something like 25 phases each – offensively, it was the most efficient game in the history of Gaelic football at that time, at the end of the old rules.”
Football analyst, coach and host of the Square D podcast Stephen O’Meara has seen more of the new rules in action than most. \ Matt Browne/Sportsfile
Old rules
Those old rules allowed for blanket defences with teams bringing every player back behind the ball if they wished. Tackling that was one of the FRC’s big tasks – however, the 12 v11 O’Meara referred to was the period in the early part of the league when the stipulation that teams must keep a minimum of three players in each half led to a loophole of sorts as goalkeepers roamed free into opposition territory to provide an imbalance.
O’Meara was a critic of that situation, which the FRC acted upon – albeit to the chagrin of some goalkeepers who felt that they were being corralled.
“I was a big proponent online – and I got a backlash for it – of saying that 12 v11 was unworkable,” Stephen says.
“It wasn’t rocket science – any coach or player I spoke to agreed, but they just didn’t want to come out and say it publicly.
“The two big changes apart from that have been banning the backpass to the goalkeeper and they’ve disincentivised fouling and delaying the taking of frees. That’s what the game needed.
“Against that, is it entertaining to see the ball kicked out and a guy catching it and then the opponents not allowed to tackle him until he has gone four metres?
“On the one hand, again you have the policeability – what’s four metres and what’s not, I’m seeing inter-county referees getting that wrong.”
Under pressure
And it is that greater pressure on referees – and the resultant errors that it can lead to – which leaves Stephen still somewhat ambivalent about the breadth of change that has taken place.
As the summer progresses and the championship stakes rise, he fears a can of worms being opened.
“The game is definitely a lot more entertaining, but at the expense of integrity,” he says.
“What I mean by that is that I’m seeing two-point frees being given in the wrong – and not being given in the wrong – on average, once per game at inter-county level and twice and three times per game at club level.
“Do I value entertainment more than the integrity of the game? Absolutely not. You need an extra official, which most games played up and down the country do not have, and the three up and three down is unpoliceable, even with a fourth official.
“The first port of call with any changes should be, does the game retain integrity? If the answer is no, I don’t care how entertaining it is.
“At the moment, people are so bamboozled by all the changes, there’s probably not a realisation that so many mistakes are being made. As well, we’ve only had the league and the start of the provincial championships up to now – wait until we see these mistakes in an All-Ireland semi-final or final, where a game is won or lost by a point.”
The thing – and we’ll refrain from saying whether it’s a good or bad thing – about the new Gaelic football rules is that everybody has an opinion on them.
In the media, the changes have been fairly well-received. On the other hand, team managers and coaches, those who have had to effectively start from scratch this year, have been more reticent in embracing the new order.
The whole thing has taken some getting used to and, in such situation, it’s natural to have teething problems as players, officials and spectators adjust. One person who has seen more than most is football analyst and coach Stephen O’Meara of The Square D podcast and gaaprostats.com.
“The issue I see at the moment is, no doubt the game is more entertaining to look at – as things stand, and I caveat that because some basic stuff still hasn’t been worked out yet,” he tells Irish Country Living.
“There have been some horrendous games, but they were almost papered over. On the television, they highlighted the Kerry-Derry game for being entertaining and compared a league match to last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.
“I do feel that there has been a PR operation to accentuate looking at the good games and completely glossing over the brutal games.”
While the notion of a public relations campaign is subjective, what is harder to debate is the data thrown up by the games played under the Football Review Committee’s new rules. The views on the data may vary, though.
“With the 11v11 [where a maximum of 11 outfield players can defend in their half of the pitch and a maximum of 11 outfield players can attack in the opposition half], the perception is that the open spaces afford more opportunity for silky football – it actually affords more opportunity for efficient football,” Stephen says.
“I expected the shots-to-phases percentage to go down as it moved more towards man-on-man, but that hasn’t happened, yet anyway.
“Donegal and Derry, in their Ulster championship game, set a new record – Donegal got shots off 91% of the time, Derry got shots on 88%.
“The expected score per ten phases was 7.1 for Donegal, 7.0 for Derry. This is smashing all previous records, though obviously you have the caveat of two-pointers.
“That record, 91 and 88, breaks the one set in 2022 by – guess who? – Derry and Donegal in that drab Ulster final that everybody gave out about! It was 1-12 to 1-12 for the 70 minutes, something like 25 phases each – offensively, it was the most efficient game in the history of Gaelic football at that time, at the end of the old rules.”
Football analyst, coach and host of the Square D podcast Stephen O’Meara has seen more of the new rules in action than most. \ Matt Browne/Sportsfile
Old rules
Those old rules allowed for blanket defences with teams bringing every player back behind the ball if they wished. Tackling that was one of the FRC’s big tasks – however, the 12 v11 O’Meara referred to was the period in the early part of the league when the stipulation that teams must keep a minimum of three players in each half led to a loophole of sorts as goalkeepers roamed free into opposition territory to provide an imbalance.
O’Meara was a critic of that situation, which the FRC acted upon – albeit to the chagrin of some goalkeepers who felt that they were being corralled.
“I was a big proponent online – and I got a backlash for it – of saying that 12 v11 was unworkable,” Stephen says.
“It wasn’t rocket science – any coach or player I spoke to agreed, but they just didn’t want to come out and say it publicly.
“The two big changes apart from that have been banning the backpass to the goalkeeper and they’ve disincentivised fouling and delaying the taking of frees. That’s what the game needed.
“Against that, is it entertaining to see the ball kicked out and a guy catching it and then the opponents not allowed to tackle him until he has gone four metres?
“On the one hand, again you have the policeability – what’s four metres and what’s not, I’m seeing inter-county referees getting that wrong.”
Under pressure
And it is that greater pressure on referees – and the resultant errors that it can lead to – which leaves Stephen still somewhat ambivalent about the breadth of change that has taken place.
As the summer progresses and the championship stakes rise, he fears a can of worms being opened.
“The game is definitely a lot more entertaining, but at the expense of integrity,” he says.
“What I mean by that is that I’m seeing two-point frees being given in the wrong – and not being given in the wrong – on average, once per game at inter-county level and twice and three times per game at club level.
“Do I value entertainment more than the integrity of the game? Absolutely not. You need an extra official, which most games played up and down the country do not have, and the three up and three down is unpoliceable, even with a fourth official.
“The first port of call with any changes should be, does the game retain integrity? If the answer is no, I don’t care how entertaining it is.
“At the moment, people are so bamboozled by all the changes, there’s probably not a realisation that so many mistakes are being made. As well, we’ve only had the league and the start of the provincial championships up to now – wait until we see these mistakes in an All-Ireland semi-final or final, where a game is won or lost by a point.”
SHARING OPTIONS