SCORING REVAMP
What is it: Four points for a goal and two points for anything kicked from outside a new 40m arc that will be drawn on the pitch. Any points kicked from inside the arc will still be worth one.
What are the intended positive consequences: Aside from a more handsome reward for goalscoring, which in turn might discourage the plague that is fisted points, the introduction of a two-point score for anything outside 40m also encourages long-range shooting. Coaches figured out a good while back that working the percentage shot from inside the ‘D’ was the only way to go. This might alleviate that, which in turn will hopefully force defences to step out another five or ten yards, thus creating space for the ball to be given inside again.
How would it have affected this year’s All-Ireland final: Forgetting about the nuance of how the score at any given time might have affected approaches, under the new scoring rules, Armagh would still have won the All-Ireland by a point – based on the new weight of Aaron McKay’s goal. Galway kicked three-long range points that would have counted for two, all by Paul Conroy, while Armagh landed two late on from Oisin O’Neill and Niall Grimley. It would have ended 1-13 to 0-16 instead of 1-11 to 0-13, the difference being that the 1-13 would have been worth 17 points with four for a goal.
Things to watch out for: Four points is a big hit in any game. Initially teams might be so scared of conceding goals that they drop deeper still, which is contrary to the rules’ intention. If that does happen, the FRC will be praying for a load of two-pointers to punish a team for sitting in too far. In the fullness of time, the two rules should complement each other and create that bit of balance where you can’t sit in too far fearing the goal lest you be punished from further out.
Will it be difficult to referee: The Doomsday fear with it is that you end up with a contentious shot from right on the line of the arc deciding a game. At club level, that will cause controversy. But all it really takes is a properly visible line of white paint on the pitch. There were the same fears over the attacking mark – would it go 20m, would it be kicked from the right spot, what if he catches it just outside the 45′? – that have never really materialised into anything significant.
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THROW-INS
What is it? Instead of two-v-two for throw-ins at the beginning of a half, it will now be one-v-one. The other two midfielders will each take a position on the sideline until the ball is thrown up.
What are the intended positive consequences? In recent years, the two-v-two element has become a nonsense. One on each team will jump, the other two players will wrestle each other to the ground. One-v-one clears all that up.
How would it have affected this year’s All-Ireland final? In both halves, exactly the same thing happened. Niall Grimley and Paul Conroy just bear-hugged each other while Ben Crealey and Matthew Tierney jumped. Galway won the ball on both occasions and both times finished the first attack with a score – both from long range, and both by Paul Conroy himself. But given it was effectively a one-v-one scenario, the only actual impact would be to tidy it up.
Things to watch out for? In a recent club game in Derry, Lavey put their goalkeeper in for the throw-up. With all the nonsense eliminated, it becomes a straight tip-off like basketball, and teams will begin working on finding their specialist jumper. The role of the other two midfielders will be interesting. They will be positioned on the sideline. Initially you might see them come towards the ball but given the absence of a sweeper and how teams have tried to create goals off the throw-in in recent years, expect that they’ll quickly just head straight into their defence and create an extra man for that first attack. A brave manager might send his spare man into attack on the first ball instead.
Will it be difficult to referee? A whole lot easier than it is right now.
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KICKOUTS
What is it? Kickouts must now travel beyond the new 40m arc before a defensive player can touch the ball. Goalkeepers no longer need to wait for the area to clear out, they can take the kick with players inside the 21′ or the arc, as long as they’re not within 13m of the ball or interfering.
What are the intended positive consequences? Combined with eliminating the handy one-two-three ball back to the goalkeeper that has become commonplace, the idea is to encourage more contest for the ball. The defensive team will have much less ground to cover to press up on a kickout, and they will know the handy ball popped back to the ‘keeper isn’t on. It should reward a team for being brave on the opposition restarts.
How would it have affected this year’s All-Ireland final? A lot of the how was attitude and tactics, but also part of why the new rule is being introduced. Of Armagh’s 22 kickouts, 15 of them were chipped short into positions that would be inside the new arc. Galway had completely dropped off until they went for broke in the 68th minute. Armagh forced Galway long three times in the first half, but Conor Gleeson still got ten short kickouts away out of 16. What was notable was how seldom the sides went back to their goalkeeper from a restart – just three times in total in the whole game.
Things to watch out for: It’s likely that coaches will look to use the width of the field more than ever to circumvent pressing, although that in itself brings the sidelines into play as an extra defender because the ball can’t go back to the goalkeeper at all. The rule is actually written so as to prevent a workaround that would have seen teams drop a defender back inside his own 13′ so he could be given the ball to then give to the ‘keeper, so that can’t happen.
Will it be difficult to referee? Probably easier than what’s there now. Refs are already having to be vigilant on kickouts making it outside the ‘D’. The new line will be closer to them and the fact that players can be stood inside it as the kick’s taken means there will fewer technical stoppages.
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KEEPING THREE UP
What is it? You must keep at least three outfield players in the opposition half at all times.
What are the intended positive consequences? It’s two-fold. One intention is that it promotes a faster transition and more kicking because teams will always have at least three men ahead of the ball. The other is that it creates space for the attacking team because the maximum number of outfield defenders allowed to come back is 11.
How would it have affected this year’s All-Ireland final? The same as any other game probably. The likelihoods are that there’ll be more pressing of kickouts, there’s more kicking on the break and even the very nature of score creation will be altered by the extra space. But as for how it would have directly affected that game, we can’t know.
Things to watch out for: It’ll take a bit of bedding in this one. The rule allows for a difference between a player breaching halfway accidentally while running in contest for a ball – which results in a free on halfway – compared to someone wantonly heading off upfield and leaving only two back, which is punishable by a 20m free in front of his goal. The basic hope is that it encourages teams to kick the ball more because there’s someone there to kick it to.
Will it be difficult to referee? It could be, potentially, although in the sandbox games they’ve found it to be a fairly self-policing. There’s definitely potential for confusion in the initial stages and for it to be left open to a ref’s interpretation in terms of what’s a deliberate breach and what isn’t, but it should all settle down fairly quickly.
Should it be implemented? If you want more kicking and a more up-and-down game than a side-to-side one, this is perhaps the best avenue to it.
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ADVANCED MARK
What is it? A change from the current rule, with marks now only available inside the 20m line off a kick from beyond the 45.
What are the intended positive consequences? A key one is to eliminate the mark as it currently is, given that it’s been perhaps the most unpopular rule ever inflicted on the sport. It rewards catching closer to goal and with players given an automatic advantage, it will encourage going for goal off the long ball because even if you miss, you get your free from where you made the catch.
How would it have affected this year’s All-Ireland final? Not really relevant.
Things to watch out for: The end of the crappy dinky kicks that led to the softest of scores.
Will it be difficult to referee? Straightforward. He either caught it or he didn’t. The advantage aspect is fairly clear-cut.
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SOLO AND GO, 50m PENALTY FOR CYNICAL PLAY
What is it? Players can take a quick free by soloing to themselves and playing on. In a bid to curb cynical play, the ball will be brought forward 50m for delaying the taking of a free or dissent towards the referee.
What are the intended positive consequences? Again, it cuts out a bit of nonsense. Players are happy to give 13m penalties, even 30m penalties, in the opposition half and allow themselves time to get back. It was no longer a deterrent to lying on the ball, holding on to it, knocking or throwing it away.
Things to watch out for: Teams will try and play on it initially, to paint a picture to the ref that they want to take a quick free just to gain 50m. And that will make the offending team so wary of being seen to be doing anything close to it that it will probably police itself by the middle of the league.
Will it be difficult to referee? See above.
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THE OTHERS
What are they?
A stop clock operated by a fifth official at inter-county games;
Vanishing foam for scoreable frees;
A black card for a cynical foul where someone is pulled back, not just down;
Head-to-head contact becomes a straight red card.
Will they be difficult to referee? The head-to-head contact rule has the potential for chaos. It comes straight from rugby but they will analyse several different angles, with the onus on the tackler. Determining who is at fault for the contact in Gaelic football could be exceptionally difficult and while the intention behind the rule is very sound, its implementation could be nearly impossible with using a video referee, and potentially game-defining.