It's great to be back on the club pitches in Mayo and getting a taste  of Football 2.0. The last few weeks of pre-season training have been interesting in preparation for the new rules. Truth be told, you spend more time talking about them in training than what their worth on the pitch!

Club players aren’t as clued in as inter-county fellas, so there’s still a massive cohort out there that still don’t fully understand them! Which is entertaining in itself. 

But let’s cut to the chase - the new rules have given Gaelic football a much-needed kick up the arse. The game is better to watch, more dynamic to play, and the days of mind-numbing lateral hand passing sequences are becoming less and less. 
Let that be said and on the record.

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Because, the current discourse doesn’t exactly allow you to speak negatively about them. There’s a group out there that look upon the Jim Gavin and the FRC like Jesus and his Disciples. 

Thou shall not question the new rules has been chiselled into the commandment on the Croke Park Hill. This columnist committed sin on the Mayo Football Podcast recently by daring to speak out against some of the enhancements, despite admitting the new rules have been a huge plus all round.

This drew accusations of sneering at referees and being overly negative – ‘I don’t see or hear any good ideas coming from you’ kind of rhetoric. All you can do is laugh. 

CHALK AND CHEESE

Having now played a few games under the new system, it’s given me exposure to them, and their positives and negatives. 
I’ve always viewed these enhancements from a club players perspective.

I am an unapologetic club snob and my snobbery has been consistent in that I foresee issues whereby rules have been created, tested and implemented from an elite model of football in inter-county, with no consideration taken for huge differences in the club model. 

The environment is chalk and cheese and a biased testing model. From a football perspective, attacking play is quicker. There’s much more space in the full forward line and as a full back you are having to experience dreaded isolation that bit more. 

The fitness levels of players aren’t at inter-county level, and at this time of year, players aren’t as quick to get back and cover space as they will be either. 

I also don’t foresee too many two-pointers at club level. It’s a big kick and requires a very high skill level – in three games played I’ve only seen it executed once. 

Referees seem to be handling it well and are open to explaining and communicating with players when needed. Declan Corcoran refereed both our Kelly Cup games and they went off without any major rule issues, and there was plenty of communication when asked. 

There are going to be mistakes – everyone knows that and seem to be accepting of it. 

KICK-OUTS

But there are two rules I’m not a fan of, one of which I believe may become a big issue down the line. Even after three games, it’s becoming clear that a breeze now has a monumental impact on games because of the new kickout rules. 

Kick outs into the wind from a goalie not able to hit a low penetrating ball flight is going to destroy games as spectacles. The ball hangs in the air and it makes it near impossible for the defending team to get out from the back. 

The reality is, at senior club level, maybe half the goalkeepers can consistently hit a driven kick-out that will cut through a breeze. Drop down to intermediate or junior, and that percentage falls off a cliff.

In inter-county this is not a problem. I spent an entire second half last Saturday in the full-back line against Ballintubber and touched the ball maybe twice. There were group discussions taking place between us and our markers out of sheer boredom.  

When you can’t win your kick-out, you’re basically standing there waiting for the executioner. It’s onslaught after onslaught and is totally unfair on the goalkeeper. The skill execution required for successful short kickouts isn’t fit for purpose for the average club goalie and needs to be altered. 

Games are going to be wholly one-sided and half-based when there’s even a middling breeze and, on the West Coast of Ireland, that is always at play.

Football matches shouldn’t be decided by which team gets to play with the wind. That’s not skill, that’s just luck of the coin toss. The ‘handing the ball back’ rule remains ridiculously harsh. To me it’s a solution introduced for a problem that doesn’t really exist.

If you try to remove every so-called negative to a game you’re running down the fairytale path of chasing a perfect game. 
It’s not possible. It gives the attacking team a really unfair advantage because the defending team now basically have a man out of position and the attacker can run eight steps without being touched.

The punishment does not fit the crime. Directive should be given to referees to be more stringent on applying current descent rules and not applying further pressure on them – because they are going to have a difficult job. 

Let me be crystal clear: I am not dismissing the positive impact of the rule changes overall. I love most of them and will make for a better product overall. 

But there’s a difference between constructive criticism and being ‘negative’ - a distinction that seems lost on some.
The GAA has always thrived on debate and discussion in pubs and clubhouses nationwide. 

That’s how the game evolves. 

The minute we stop questioning and start blindly accepting is the minute we lose something essential to our sporting culture.
I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face - the changes have been positive overall. 

But recognition of that fact shouldn’t mean we close our eyes to areas that need tweaking. If that makes me a heretic in the Church of New Rules, then so be it. I’ll take reality over blind faith any day of the week.

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