Tipperary club drives on with bid to change hurling steps rule

A Tipperary club official has revealed his motion aimed at reducing the number of steps a player can take with ball in hand from four to three has met with opposition from Hurling’s 2020 review committee.

Kevin Leahy, from the St Mary’s club in Clonmel, saw his motion successfully passed at last month’s annual convention in Tipperary and it will appear on the Clár at GAA Congress next month.

Leahy believes a change from four to three steps would have a radical long-term effect and help to restore skills such as doubling on the ball in the air and ground strokes.

But he revealed: “Liam Sheedy (Hurling 2020 chairman) was against it but the more you think about it and analyse it, the more sense it makes.

“I’m hopeful. Two-thirds (the vote required to pass a motion) is tough and there are a lot of counties indifferent to hurling anyway.”

The rule proposes that the existing rule, which states that when a player is in possession of the ball that it may be carried for a maximum of four consecutive steps, be amended to three.

Leahy argued: “Taking on the man with the ball in hand now effectively means running past the man. I don’t think that was ever meant to be done.

“Since that rule was changed in 1985, hurling has changed completely, with the possession game coming in. You now have lads taking seven or eight steps with the ball in their hand, they’re being encouraged by managers to take on the man at every opportunity. It’s almost impossible to defend against.

“You take in Gaelic football, if a man is running past you, there’s a tackle on the ball. What can you do in hurling? If a fast player takes eight steps, he’s covering effectively 12 yards.

“Then he goes another seven or eight so a player is effectively running well over 20 yards with the ball in his hand. And if you look at fouls on the man in possession, they’re always nearly after four steps have been taken.”

Leahy claimed: “There are teams practising drills with six steps. Take six steps, tap, six again and release it. That is happening and that small rule change in 1985 changed the face of hurling.

“There are an awful lot of positive things that have happened in hurling but hurling has legislated out of the game the most unique skills that it had. The most difficult and spectacular skills in the game to execute are doubling the ball in the air and hitting it on the ground. We will never ever see Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s goal for Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final again. It has effectively been legislated out of the game by the rule makers.

“By going back to the three-step rule you can still take on your man but legitimately with the ball on your stick. I’m not trying to create 1960s hurling — there is a place for possession hurling where you look up but it is a game that should incorporate all the skills of hurling.”