GAA Central Council set to fine-tune new rules

The small print of Gaelic football’s new playing rules will be determined at Central Council on Saturday week.

The finer points of the sin bin, kick-out, and advanced mark rules have to be decided. For instance, it has not yet been agreed if a goalkeeper who is sent to the line for 10 minutes can be replaced by a substitute goalkeeper, with an outfield player making way for that period.

“We have a couple of things we need to get clarified, such as if a goalkeeper can come on for an outfield player and then goes back off again,” said the GAA’s national match official manager Donal Smith.

“Is that an extra sub then? It becomes a real issue then, but things like that will be put to Central Council and we will take it from there.”

It’s envisaged that if a player is sin-binned before half time, they will remain sidelined for the remainder of the 10 minutes at the start of the second half.

Should a player be sin-binned close to the end of normal time in a game that goes to extra time, it is also expected that they will sit out what is left of their sin-bin time in that first-half period of extra time.

As a way of ensuring the integrity of the sin bin clock, Smith would like to see it start only when play has recommenced following a player being shown a black card.

“Say you are going for a goal, I pull you down and you get injured, and treatment takes five minutes,” he said.

“Next thing you know, half of the sin-bin time has elapsed. I would hope that the sin bin doesn’t start until the referee restarts the game.”

It also has yet to be confirmed whether a kick-out mark is considered a set play as an advanced mark can only be claimed from open play.