Kieran Shannon: John Tobin continually looking to broaden football's scope, debate and ideas

John Tobin is very interested in what Jim Gavin and his committee find and eager to hear what the players have to say. 

VISIONARY: John Tobin believes a wider discussion is required with the state of play of football currently.  Pic:  Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

John Tobin is on his feet, not for the first or last time during our conversation. He may be quietly spoken by nature and it may be 50 years since he was an All Star but he’s brimming with so much life and so many ideas that sometimes he can’t help but rise from his seat, especially when it comes to ways football could get more people out of theirs.

“We have to have a wider discussion,” he contends before citing a finding from a study by the prominent GAA analysis consultant Rob Carroll that Tobin himself commissioned when he was chair of the GAA’s national coaching and games committee during the last presidency: nowadays in football the ball goes out over the sideline only three or four times a game.