GAA Football Review Committee member Michael Murphy, left, speaking during a briefing of the GAA Football Review Committee at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Donegal legend Michael Murphy believes the proposed rule enhancements put forward by the Football Review Committee of which he is a member of will be warmly received by players.
The FRC have organised a seven ‘sandbox’ matches to trial their proposals, including most recently an inter-county game between Cavan and Kildare.
Murphy, who still plays to a high level himself with his club Glenswilly, has been enthused by the reaction he’s gotten from the players who’ve taken part in those matches.
“The feedback we've gotten from the players is that they're very, very supportive of the rule proposals so far,” says Murphy. “So from that point of view I'm excited to see how excited they are.
“I know from playing the game at club level that the key bits of the game you want to do - to kick, to catch - that you trained for when you were a young, you're just not getting much of an opportunity to exhibit those skills as a senior footballer in the modern game as often as you did when you played underage.
Murphy believes that the seven rule enhancements proposed by the FRC will make Gaelic football more free-flowing and reward teams with an ambition to play attacking football.
“I think that description, 'free-flowing', is what we're after,” he says. “We don’t want a game that's always stopping and starting and transitions from defence to attack are slow and laborious.
“That there's opportunities for teams if they really want to attack that they can go and do it. If they are fouled they can solo and go and get there quickly.
“If they want they can kick it quickly and long up the field because there will always be three players up there. For the team that really wants to play it quick and fast and wants to attack you're hoping that these proposals will allow them to do that.
“In the sandbox games we've watched so far the ball in play time and that quick nature of the game has been seen.”
The GAA Football Review Committee members, back row, from left, James Horan, Michael Meaney, Eamonn Fitzmaurice, Patrick Doherty, Shane Flanagan, Malachy O'Rourke and Alec McQuillan, front row, from left, Colm Nally, Michael Murphy, Colm Collins, chairperson Jim Gavin, and Seamus Kenny after a briefing of the GAA Football Review Committee at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
The Football Review Committee have also put forward a number of proposals relating to foul play, dissent, and game officiating that would further buttress the ‘seven core enhancements’.
These include advancing the ball 50 metres to punish teams for committing tactical fouls, interfering with free-kicks, sideline kicks, or kick-outs, and forcibly challenging a referee.
“They're not just ones your hopeful might get through, I really do believe they're so strong in terms of supplementing those seven core enhancements,” says Murphy.
“At the moment teams are so well in tune when it comes to tackling as to how they can maybe get away with certain tackles. They have really perfected that art to the detriment we believe of the game in terms of slowing it down and really negating those quick attacks.
“You'd be hoping these proposed 50 metre penalties would mean teams will eventually catch on and realise they can't get away with that anymore. You'd hope it would be the same for the proposed penalty for dissent.
“These underlying enhancements really do strengthen the key ones, we believe, to make the game more free-flowing and faster in action. That should make it a more enjoyable game for players to play and hopefully for the spectators at the game, they'll be on the edge of their seat more often.
“And for those watching it or listening to it from home, they'll be seeing and hearing something that's livelier, quicker, and is more exciting.”
GAA Football Review Committee chairperson Jim Gavin speaking during a briefing of the GAA Football Review Committee at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
The general public will get an opportunity next weekend to see how the FRC’s proposed rule enhancements will impact the game when Croke Park hosts the Allianz interprovincial series.
On Friday October 18, Leinster play Connacht in the first semi-final at 6.0 which is followed by the meeting of Munster and Ulster at 8.0. Both matches will be televised by TG4
The following day will see two more games take place as the two defeated provinces meet at 5.30 and the winning teams compete against each other at 7.30, with both matches televised by RTE.
Tickets for the games are on sale from usual outlets priced at €15 for adults and €5 for children and provide entry to all four games over the two days. All tickets must be purchased in advance from either gaa.ie or Centra and SuperValu outlets.
“It'll be great for everyone to see the rules in action,” says Murphy. “Anyone who attended our trial games this year, their feedback has always been really strong for us as a committee. So to have a crowd here in Croke Park and seeing how they feel about it and what they like I think will be really, really strong too.
“To have the interprovincials back is a really strong attraction too. It'll be great to see top players from each province playing together and coming to Croke Park. There's a win-win there for everybody.”
The FRC's Interim Report can be read and downloaded below.
