The GAA’s Special Congress takes place in Croke Park with 49 individual motions all part of the proposed revamp of the rules of Gaelic Football.
The rules will, if passed, be introduced for a one year period though any of them can be changed by the GAA without recourse to another Congress during that period.
The new rules have been mulled over, debated and consulted on before being trialled in a number of sandbox games and in high profile televised Interprovincial Games.
Those games had drama aplenty and if repeated at every game would be a revelation.
It is a brave move but one that has been made important by the changing nature of coaching, and the trickle down impact of different styles of play on coaches across the whole spectrum. That is what happens in sport and if changes are needed to reset the way the game is played then so be it.
Anything that is locked in as never changing when everything around it is, is doomed to redundancy.
As a one time player and an active coach they will be a challenge to get right from the start but those who put the time in will get them quicker.
They should make the playing of the game more enjoyable, as well as the watching of it.
The biggest challenge will be for the referees and officials at club level.
Being mic’d up in communication between umpires, lines officials and ref is great but the reality is that this only happens at the very highest level.
In the real world of Junior B the referee will be on his or her own, at best with officials drawn from the sideline and at worst with them being outrageously biased or just not being there at all.
One of the rules dictates that not just one but both feet must be inside or outside of a line if that is required. Good luck with accurately judging that, particularly on a pitch where the lines were not redrawn in time after the grass had grown and judgement is by feel rather than VAR.
But all of these things can be overcome.
One rule we like is the behaviour of players being restricted so that only a team captain can talk to the referee about a decision, with the penalty being a 50 metre advance in a free.
The signs at most grounds that the referee is only human should be read and absorbed every time but they are not. Putting behaviour at this level into the rule book is an important reminder of the basic knowledge that this is a game and playing it in a way that makes anyone feel threatened or at risk has no place.
The debate and the votes are scheduled to conclude before lunchtime on Saturday. Within hours the stands will start to fill with the Red and White Cuala Ultra’s fresh from their Dart to the Leinster Senior Football Championship Final against St Mary’s of Ardee.
That will be the last high profile game to be televised from Croke Park under the existing rules.
Whoever wins will be back in action under the new ones on the first weekend of January, putting those club players and management into the crucible of analysis and performing with a whole new set of variables.
They will be making history, as indeed will the Cuala players on Saturday should they win. In doing so they will be the first Dublin club in history to win both a Leinster Football and a Leinster Hurling Championship title, noy just in the same year but ever. and they could be followed straight after by Na Fianna who could become the third Dublin team to win in Leinster and have already won a Football title.
Just like the 46A you wait for ever and then two come along back to back, maybe.
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