Football

Kenny Archer: Stop kicking experimental rules and start kicking the ball more

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

Critics have been quick to stick the boot into the GAA's SCPR proposals to bring more kickpassing back into football Picture by Seamus Loughran
Critics have been quick to stick the boot into the GAA's SCPR proposals to bring more kickpassing back into football Picture by Seamus Loughran Critics have been quick to stick the boot into the GAA's SCPR proposals to bring more kickpassing back into football Picture by Seamus Loughran

THE death of Gaelic football. How many times have we listened to that lament? And then gone to the games?

The sport has had more revivals than the love-child of Lazarus and Frank Sinatra.

Remember when the black card was going to finish football off, as surely as ‘the Black Death’?

Or when the mark was certain to mark the game’s demise?

Or Donegal were doing for it, with ‘Jimmy killing matches?’

Or Tyrone making supposedly sick spectacles with their dastardly swarm tackling?

Or other teams in other eras who played the game slightly differently from their predecessors in an attempt to – gasp! – win matches?

The game constantly evolves and, to a large extent, gets better.

Players are faster and fitter than ever before, arguably more skilful too, giving the higher scoring returns despite forwards facing increasingly defensive formations.

Yet in general the game has becoming less entertaining, with fewer people prepared to pay into inter-county matches.

So some tweaks to the rules are required.

The experimental rules passed by Central Council at the weekend really aren’t as radical as some are making them out to be.

Gaelic football was never supposed to consist of so much hand-passing. The clue’s in the name of the game.

Really there should have been far more fuss about the potential introduction of a tiered championship into inter-county football.

That really could spell the death of Gaelic football in certain counties if financial guarantees aren’t put in place, but too many people prefer to present themselves as visionaries and experts on how the game should be played and what effect slight rule changes will have. Sigh.

As with the black card and the mark, these experimental rules probably won’t radically alter the game, and certainly won’t ruin it.

What they might do is make more matches more exciting than many of them have been during this decade.

Apparently 63 per cent of the GPA members who replied to their recent survey are opposed to the idea that sideline kicks must go forward (except when taken from inside the opposition's 20-metre line).

God forbid having to kick the blooming ball forward!

‘Let ’er in!’

Of course part of the problem with the modern game is having too many bodies behind the ball and this proposal might encourage teams to pack their defences even more.

Yes, the opposition can get everyone back, but surely it’s still possible to find a team-mate in those circumstances? By kicking the ball accurately?

Limerick might be best-known for hurling this year, but maybe try a tactic associated with rugby, ‘the Garryowen’.

Yep, booting a ball up into the sky and jumping for it mightn’t be pretty – but nor is a tedious chain of short hand-passes, carried out at a snail’s pace.

Almost all (96 per cent) of the GPA’s survey respondents were opposed to the limiting consecutive hand-passes to a maximum of three.

Sure, teams may just turn around and kick the ball backwards after making three hand-passes – but mightn’t some teams try to profit from that by committing more men forward in order to intercept some of these kicks?

Kicking the ball away mightn’t look good - but neither does passing it around and around and around and around in your own half. And around and around.

Perhaps the limitation on hand-passes should relate only to a team’s own defensive half, or to the area outside their opponents’ defensive ‘45’.

Yet why don’t we see how this works out?

The ball doesn’t have to be blootered aimlessly. It can be kicked five yards to a team-mate, 10 yards, 15 yards… Heck, with enough proper coaching and practice, it can be kicked very precisely over far greater distances.

Of course these experimental rules aren’t perfect.

The solution to packed defences is to limit the number of players who can stay in a team’s defensive half.

The common complaint about that is that referees and linesmen have enough to do - which is true.

However, have you heard of spectators and coaches/ managers? And players?

You’d definitely hear from them, shouting about the numbers back (or forward) if such a rule came into force.

Besides, you can do something to limit the number of players who stay in a team’s defensive half without a rule change - by committing players forward yourself.

If your opponents want to sit with 15 players in their own half, fine, let them.

By putting more players forward, you have more targets to hit, either by hand-pass or kick-pass.

It’s indicative of the defensive, negative mindset which is widely prevalent at present that so many have been shouting about what will/ can be done to defend against the new rules.

What about things that can be done to exploit them to create scores and scoring opportunities?

If coaches can think up defensive strategies, then they can come up with attacking approaches too.

Any coach who can’t pose problems to a defence with the advent of the ‘attacking mark’ isn’t worth his, er, ‘travel expenses’.

Gaelic football will obviously look different under these experimental rules, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

There’ll be more battles for possession. The ball will be kicked more, there may be more catches, perhaps even aerial contests.

Some of the insulting sneers at those involved in coming up with these proposals have merely exposed the moaner’s ignorance in every sense.

There is cause for complaint about trying out these rules during the National Football League, one of the most important inter-county competitions.

However, changes have to be tried out sometime.

If you don’t agree, if you just want to run around with a ball in your hands, go play basketball or rugby.

It’s called Gaelic football. Kick the ball. Give it a go.