Addressing the malaise in Gaelic football

It is with a certain amount of trepidation that one steps in on the preserve of the Western People sports department but the election of a new Uachtaráin of the GAA is a significant and a seldom event, so I feel justified in doing so. But, I tread warily.

Jarlath Burns, the new President, may well be the right man, in the right place at the right time. He is steeped in the GAA, a long-time servant of his club, a footballer of some considerable distinction at inter-county level, an administrator at all levels in the association and an able communicator.

His CV is impeccable. While it may not have been his life’s ambition to become President, for quite a number of years now, he has been very much the heir apparent. His elevation to the top voluntary position in the association will be welcomed by the vast majority of GAA members.

Burns’ predecessor, Larry McCarthy, got few opportunities to shine. His term was bogged down in fixtures issues as the competing claims of club versus county versus games versus calendar proved to be an almost insoluble conundrum. The problem got fixed but not to the satisfaction of all.

McCarthy also had to contend with Tom Parsons and the GPA and the issue of a fair mileage model for inter-county players, burgeoning costs of team preparation, particularly at senior inter-county level, the growing influence of inter-county managers and their ever-expanding back-up teams (wait for more trouble when the managers form their union!), ever-changing and ineffective playing rules, indiscipline on and off the field, assaults on referees and how best to bring the ladies within the embrace of the association.

That latter issue appears to be sorted. Mary McAleese managed to get agreement from the Camogie Association and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association to come in under the GAA umbrella, just in time for Larry McCarthy to announce that peace had broken out. The problem of dual football and camogie players remains and the issue of playing/training facilities continues. But, there is hope that fixtures will become more streamlined.

So, what now? Burns hardly had his feet under the presidential desk than he identified the single most critical issue facing the association – the toxic state of the game of football. He wants to make the game more attractive and hurray say all of us. There are other areas of concern for the President, the cost of preparing inter-county teams, the preservation of the amateur status and the adherence to good governance at all levels of the association. That may be problematic for some county boards and clubs if credence is given to the allegations of huge payments to managers at both county and club.

For now hurling is doing fine. The game is in rude good health even if there is concern that some of the traditional hurling counties could be doing more to bring standard-setting Limerick down to earth. It is wishful thinking that all 32 counties can raise the game to Limerick’s levels but we can and should celebrate the ongoing achievements in the lower tiers of the game. Hurlers (and footballers) play the game for the enjoyment and satisfaction they get out of it. It is not all about mounting the steps in Croke Park to take hold of the Liam McCarthy Cup, though of course they will always dream. Ladies Gaelic football is in a good place and camogie is bustling with possibilities.

The men’s game has become the most boring spectacle imaginable and it does not have to be that way. Once two teams go out to play attacking football, even under the existing rules the game can be exciting, dynamic, enjoyable and entertaining for the paying customers. One only has to look back to Croke Park when Dublin hosted Kerry to see how exciting the game can be. Both teams went at it hammer and tongs with no thought of blanket defence, or sweepers, or foul play or negative notions. And, talk about invention – who would have thought of playing Eoin Murchan on David Clifford? If it was you Dessie Farrell, take a bow.

However, Dublin v Kerry was the exception. In most other games in Round 4 of the National Football League the approach was one of caution rather than reckless abandon. Some supporters will have gone home happy that their team got a result and will ignore the fact that the game was spoiled by the backward hand pass followed by the next backward hand pass, followed by the sideways hand pass, followed by the sideways kick pass and then the backward kick pass (most likely to the goalkeeper) followed, ad nauseam, by more back and over and then a drive forward into a cluttered corner and back down the field yet again.

Of late, I have been turning to the ladies game for entertainment. The commitment, the skill level, the clashes and the pursuit of victory combined with a commitment to attack makes for a more interesting and entertaining game. There is some of the sideways and backwards hand passes, but mostly as a means of getting out of troublesome situations and there is none of the cynicism that has besmirched the men’s game.

There are a number of facets that have crept into the game that are annoying and unworthy but are simple to remedy. The first of these is at the throw-in where the referee has the solution. Two at least, if not all four players, engage in unruly and pointless shouldering, dragging and pulling. Yellow cards would put an end to this particular nonsense. And none of this baloney that yellow cards can’t be flashed because the game has not started. Bull.

Next there is the sideline cut or free. Very often there is a mini shemozzle, right in front of the assistant referee (aka linesman) and within sight of the referee. One player will lie on the ball or sliothar to deny an opponent the opportunity of a quick free or indeed may commit the act just to be thick. This leads to more unseemly and unsporting behaviour as others join in the ruckus. The solution? Yellow cards and red if necessary. There should be absolutely no tolerance of such tomfoolery.

And then there is the introduction of the substitute. Far too frequently this gallant blade will seek out an opponent for a shoulder charge just to show that a real man has entered the fray. And there is the opposite situation where the substitute is singled out for some intimidatory and unsettling medicine. Again, yellow cards are a very simple remedy.

It could be argued that the foregoing issues are incidentals and, for sure, they do not address the fundamental flaws in the game. Tinkering with the kickout, limiting the number of back passes, awarding a ‘mark’ for a piece of high fielding, an integral and admirable feature of the game, will not cure the current malaise which is, in large part, due to the interpretation of the tackle.

There is no such thing under the rules of Gaelic football as a tackle on the man. There is the shoulder charge, which to all intents and purposes has been legislated out of the game, and there is the tackle on the ball. The only legitimate way to dispossess an opponent is to get at the ball. The current blight of the ‘tackler’ throwing two arms around the man in possession has come down from the north and has, somewhat curiously, been accepted by the referees. And bad enough that one player should swamp a player in possession but almost immediately a succession of others are in on top of the player with the ball. And who gets penalised? Not the players who are committing the fouls but rather the poor unfortunate who has possession of the ball.

The player in possession of the ball should surely have primacy and referees should guarantee that he has the opportunity to play either a hand pass or a kick pass and that the game continues to flow rather than get bogged down in an imitation of the rugby choke tackle.