New Gaelic football rules resulted in minor increases in player workload – study

The rules aimed to create a more free-flowing game, but prompted concerns that they could increase player workload.

New Gaelic football rules resulted in a minor increase in the workload for players, according to data analysis by Dublin City University (DCU).

The rules aimed to create a more free-flowing game, but prompted concerns that they could increase player workload.

They saw the implementation of rules, including that three players must remain in each half of the field during a match, and a minimum distance for goalkeepers’ kick outs.

It also saw the introduction of the “solo and go”, which allows a fouled player to immediately play on, in an attempt to reduce the number of rows over frees, which hold up play.

The rules were implemented this year after a discussion by the Football Review Committee, chaired by former Dublin football manager and presidential contender Jim Gavin.

Analysis of comparative data between 2024 and 2025 showed only relatively minor increases for three player positions.

Prof Mark Roantree, from the DCU School of Computing, who oversaw the study, said the usage of GPS data provided an objective analysis of the rules.

The figures were gathered from anonymised player GPS data from Division 2, 3 and 4 teams across 32 games in 2024 and compared with 50 games in 2025.

The findings come despite the data analysis also revealing that matches have gone up slightly in length since the rule changes, lasting an average of just over 77 minutes in 2025 compared to 2024.

“We simply took raw GPS data from players, and then depending on player velocity, we computed their relative intensity (speed) by distance,” he said.

“The study is purely data-driven.”

The data analysis from DCU showed that of the six positional lines, goalkeepers, half-backs and midfielders covered higher distances in 2025 compared to 2024, and these increases were marginal.

In the games analysed, the average total distance covered by goalkeepers in matches rose slightly from 4,882.8 metres to 4,969.7m, a figure skewed somewhat by a mid-season rule change that limited goalkeeper movement.

Half-backs covered slightly more ground too, rising from 9,352.9m to 9,795.9m.

Midfielder average distance also increased marginally from 9,341.4m to 9,532.7m, although analysis shows this is driven by an increase in “low intensity movements”.

This increase is likely explained by the stoppage in games for referee checks.

High intensity sprinting increased in goalkeeper and half-back positions, but dropped in all other positional lines.

Uttaran Bera, research assistant at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, said: “We crunched thousands of minutes of GPS data, and the main takeaway is that, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the rules changed, but players’ workloads really didn’t.

“Our data and visuals clearly show only small bumps for a few positions.”

Prof Roantree added: “A special mention should go to those counties who participated in the study, took the time to process and forward their data to Aaron O’Neill, research assistant at the School of Health & Human Performance, who ensured data anonymisation for both teams and players.”

The GAA Games Intelligence Unit (GIU) partnered with the School of Health & Human Performance and the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at Dublin City University (DCU) for the study.