Niall Grimley of Ulster and Aidan O’Shea of Connacht contest a throw in to start a quarter as referee David Coldrick looks on during the Allianz GAA Football Interprovincial Championship Final match between Connacht and Ulster at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
The GAA is inviting members of the public to participate in a prospective cohort study of the FRC’s Gaelic football rule enhancements.
A prospective cohort study is a study in which a group of participants are followed over time to observe outcomes.
In this case, the outcomes relate to the level of the satisfaction, knowledge, and understanding of the rule enhancements being implemented in Gaelic football among players, coaches, referees, spectators, and observers over the course of the Allianz Football League.
Those who register an interest at this LINK will be contacted after each round of Allianz Football League to get their feedback.
On online open access survey will also go live next week after the first round of the Allianz Football League which will allow a wide range of participants to offer their opinion on the FRC rule enhancements without requiring individual invitations.
“We want your opinions, we want your thoughts, we want to see what you think is working well and what you think isn't because Central Council who are the governing body of the Association have the power to amend or rescind any of these new rules,” says FRC Chairperson, Jim Gavin.
“We have a benefit realisation framework on the new rules. We want to see are we getting the intended value from the new rules or not. That will be data driven, primarily, but we also want the subjective comments from people who will watch these games live at county grounds or indeed at home on the TV.
“When we have all that data we'll present back to the standing committee on playing rules who then will make a decision on whether they need to amend, rescind, or even just keep the rules as they are.
“This is a long-term project. We have the seven rounds of the National League plus the finals. We've got close to 100 games in the Championship, and that's only inter-county. That's only 5 per cent of the games. The other 95 per cent of games are club activity.
“When clubs commence their leagues and their championships we want them to get online to give us feedback on how the rules are working at club level.
“When all of that is finished and we get to the latter stages of the club championships, we'll begin to publish a final report in October which will then go forward to Special Congress to vote on the new rules as to whether they will be kept as permanent rule changes for 2026.”
An overview on the key football rule enhancements can be viewed and downloaded below.
