Harte: Don’t lose our values

Tyrone boss Mickey Harte fears the GAA is losing sight of what its games are about, amid a rush to introduce changes to gaelic football’s playing rules. Four new rules will come into effect this month, all approved at Special Congress in October.

Harte feels the influence of other sports has played a part in promoting a clamour for change. And he is particularly concerned about the introduction of the forward mark, which he believes will have a detrimental effect on the game.

“We have to take stock here, and say, have we lost sight of what our game is about,” he said. “We’re taking cards from soccer, we’re taking advantage rules from rugby, we’re taking these forward marks from Australian Rules.”

The Red Hand boss slammed what he sees as unnecessary haste for change in recent years.

“We need to take care. There’s a rush for change that has become so accelerated over the past number of years. We never got a chance even for a few rules to settle in before we got another one.

They’re coming in handfuls. There was one time there were 13 things being considered that may be coming into the game or not.

Treble All-Ireland winner Harte, who is about to embark on an 18th season as Tyrone manager, warned that the new forward mark rule will damage the art of defending.

“That mark is going to take away from quality defending, because when a forward makes the mark, the defender may as well sit down. He can’t touch him, he can’t tackle him. Then there’s the thing about how he declares for the mark. Does he take the ball with one hand and put up the other, or does the player stop for a second?

“We saw already in the McKenna Cup last year, when Jamie Clarke caught a ball, stopped for a while and then ran on, asked the referee what do I do here, then kicked it over the bar and got it. So there’s a lot of added variables that the referees don’t need.”

Harte has also voiced his disquiet over the manner in which the two-tier Championship was approved. He believes the vote should have been restricted to those counties likely to be affected by the new format.

“I don’t think people who are in Tier 1 at the minute should have had a say in that. It really should have been down to the people who are currently or likely to be in that position to make the decision,” he said.

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