A meeting of the GAA’s Ard Chomhairle took place in Croke Park on Saturday which confirmed the application of four of the experimental rules introduced in December to Gaelic Football during the Allianz League.
Following discussion and analysis on their application in the pre-season competitions, a decision was taken not to continue with one of the rules, the most controversial of them, the restricted hand pass experimental rule.
We will though get to see a wider experimental use of the sin bin, the advanced mark, the 20-metre line kick out and the forward sideline kick over the duration of the Allianz Leagues.
The Championship will revert to the same set of rules as were the case up until now and after this year’s All Ireland final all five of the rules will be reviewed.
If it is decided at that point to introduce some or all on a permanent basis a special GAA Congress would be held in November to debate and approve or reject them.
The Hand pass rule was the one that had drawn most heat from managers and analysts but a presentation to the meeting from video analyst Rob Carroll showed that far from causing confusion it had actually worked in quite dramatic fashion to restore the importance of longer passes with the foot, which was its intention.
The ratio of hand passes to foot passes dropped from 3.5 to 1 in last year’s All Ireland Championship to only 1.3 to 1 over the limited selection of ten games in the Bord na Mona O’Byrne Cup and the Bank of Ireland McKenna Cup.
The best basis for analysis of change is fact rather than perception and while there was a loud shouting down of the change as unworkable by its critics, the evidence points to a change which may well make the game more attractive.
It has to be hoped that it will at least be given a chance in the wider review though that seems less likely now on such limited number of games.
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