2025 to determine Gaelic football's future

The new year always brings with it a freshness and a hope for the sporting year ahead.

Regardless of how your team or favoured athlete performed over the last 12 months, most players and fans can somehow make the case for this year to be the year.

It’s a year in which the fortunes of the Irish women’s rugby team will come into sharp focus with the World Cup later in the year, while the women’s European Championships in soccer won’t be quite as interesting for us here with the absence of the Republic of Ireland from the main stage.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that for many of us - this writer included - the new incarnation of Gaelic football will be the main area of intrigue in the early months of 2025.

As usual, supporters of all hues will return to the sidelines brimming with optimism as the early rounds of the national leagues unfold and we try and gauge how our county’s prospects are shaping up.

All of that, though will be added to with the new element of change in Gaelic football, as the FRC’s proposals are implemented. As a result, the coming year promises to be one of the most consequential in the history of Gaelic football.

The widespread changes to the game are the most fundamental changes implemented since, probably, the early years of the association.

It was staggering, in one way, that these changes were passed with such little opposition at the Special Congress in November. Given how wide-ranging these were - changing the very fabric of the game - it was notable that few voices of opposition were raised to any of the amendments. In fact, one of the most vociferous voices to raise a question or two was Sligo chair Sean Carroll, who made valid points regarding the burden placed on referees in his contribution.

However, given how notoriously difficult an association it can be to implement any element of change, the way the GAA community has embraced the FRC’s proposals is reflective of how strongly administrators feel about the current state of the game.

It is my contention that things were not as bad as made out to be, and that some of the problems could be attributed to the nature of the competition structures as opposed to the fundamental rules of the game itself.

Mismatches are the major blot on the football summer, meaning the wider population is rarely engaged by the early championship fare as lower league counties are often dismissed with considerable ease by more powerful outfits. That is nothing to do with the rules of the game.

In any case, we are where we are now, and everyone has to embrace the new rules.

Will they have the desired effect?

One can only wait and see, but whether they do or not, I for one will be fascinated to see how they play out in real time, when the stuff that actually matters take place. That starts at the end of January for the start of the National League.

I’m really intrigued to see how counties approach things. Have the new rules altered the way they select their panel for the coming season?

The early indications are that players will need to have a greater aerobic fitness to sustain themselves in a game that will involve a lot of up and down the park. There have also been suggestions that this will change the way our footballers are built, away from a more muscular frame to one similar to a track athlete.

Because of the nature of this coming season, it’s almost impossible to predict who will adapt best.

Of course, the usual contenders will remain at the top of the list when it comes to predicting who might lift Sam next July and, even without rule changes, it was shaping up to be one of the most open championships in recent memory. With the new style set to alter things even more, it becomes even more of a lottery.

Given his reputation as one of the game’s real innovators - even if many weren’t overly enamoured with Donegal’s style in his first tenure as boss - Jim McGuinness’ presence on the sideline with his native county may give them the edge. He has shown an ability to adapt and plan to plot a route to success, and with Michael Murphy back, they mean business. A recent trip to Abu Dhabi for pre-season training further underlined their intent.

Many more counties will feel they are within shouting distance - Mayo, Galway and Roscommon are all among that group - while it’s going to be terribly interesting to see how Tyrone fare under new boss Malachy O’Rourke. Highly sought after after productive stints with Monaghan, Fermanagh and Glen, O’Rourke could help Tyrone unlock their full potential after an indifferent few years following their All-Ireland triumph in 2021.

More important than the inter-county scene, however, will be how club football adapts to the new rules.

There will be teething problems, of course, but whether the rules actually become manageable after a period of time will be the critical point as to whether the new dawn for Gaelic football actually gets off the ground.

Central to their success or otherwise will be the ability of referees to adapt to the required level. As much and all as referees are scrutinised, there will have to be some leeway offered this year as they too adjust to this new era.

2025 will be the year when we get to find out what Gaelic football’s future looks like. That in itself is enough to whet the appetite for the new season.