Jim Gavin ‘baffled’ at opposition to clock/hooter

Jim Gavin has described as “baffling” Central Council’s decision to oppose the introduction of the clock/hooter, having endorsed it last year.

GAA president Liam O’Neill last week explained issues had arisen that had convinced the committee to complete a u-turn.

He said they were not prepared to back an initiative which wasn’t 100% sound and therefore they will put forward a motion to Congress calling for plans to be shelved.

This is despite of Wexford club Clonard and the Football Review Committee’s proposals supporting the clock/hooter, having both been backed by Congress.

Having seen the clock/hooter in operation in several ladies football matches, Gavin is convinced it can work in Gaelic football.

“It came from a proposal from a Wexford club. The GAA, when they make decisions, they are very democratic, it can sometimes procedurally be a bit slow, but that’s the process. It came from a club, it was passed at Congress, now it’s gone to Central Council and I believe Central Council blocked it and I’m not too sure why that has happened.

“Now, we had a perfectly working clock in Páirc Uí Rinn (last Sunday). The ladies football have done a fantastic job. I’ve been at a good few games; I think it’s a fantastic initiative. It would add more excitement to the game, so it’s a little bit baffling why it hasn’t taken place. I don’t know the logistical issues but they seem pretty straightforward to me.”

After last year’s trials in the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup weekends, concerns had been aired by assessors about how teams might use substitutes to waste time. To address that, it was recommended substitutes would be counted as stoppages in the form of a motion at Congress later this month. That has now been jettisoned.

Gavin said: “If a team is bringing players on late in the game to run the clock out, then put it in that the clock stops. It’s as simple as that. It seems to me quite easy. There are lots of easy solutions to this and I think it would be a fantastic initiative. I think the games are exciting anyway, but it would really add to it, particularly when the games are so close.

“I think if we had one there at Páirc Uí Rinn — there was a minute of extra-time played — and available for everyone to see, I think that would really add to the excitement. Not only for the players, but the viewing public at home and on TV and for the spectators as well, that would make it more interesting for them.”

O’Neill fears the clock/hooter might prompt anti-climatic finales to games. Gavin, who also sees the clock/hooter assisting referees, disagrees.

“Naturally, a lot of games finish on the last kick-out. Referees seem to give the last kick-out and that’s the way it’s been traditionally. Teams get an extra attack. It works in other sports that if a team has possession and the clock runs out, they kick it out over the sideline.

“We saw it on the weekend, the Super Bowl, the quarterback kneels. In rugby, they kick it out into the stand and the game is over. It’s a definite line in the sand in terms of when the game concludes. I think it’s growth in our game, and it was given from the clubs to Congress and Central Council and it should have been passed.”

Gavin is wholly supportive of the idea of all Gaelic football kick-outs having to pass a team’s own 45 metre line, as proposed by GAA director general Páraic Duffy.

“I can understand where Páraic comes from. High fielding is one of the skill-sets that we train on the pitch on a regular basis. There was some great high fielding, Denis Bastick had a great catch on Sunday. We’ve got some great high fielders, Emmet Ó Conghaile, Shane Carthy, Michael Darragh (Macauley), Cian O’Sullivan, so it’s a skill that we go after and we like to see it.

“But I don’t think we can change the rules to try to force a particular tactic. Say Cork were to play a handpassing game on Sunday, do you limit the number of handpasses a team can have? We tried it before and it didn’t work.”

* Gavin was speaking yesterday at the announcement of Ballygowan and Energise Sport as Dublin GAA’s new official hydration partners