Gavin insists identity rules supreme despite fears of Aussie influence on new game 

Believing FRC rule changes can make Gaelic football “one of the most exciting field games to watch”, Dublin’s six-time All-Ireland SFC winner disputes concerns it's morphing into the game Down Under

CHANGING DAYS: GAA Football Review Committee chairperson Jim Gavin stands for a portrait after a briefing of the GAA Football Review Committee at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Football Review Committee (FRC) chairperson Jim Gavin insists the identity of Gaelic football will be there for all to see at next week’s interprovincial tournament in Croke Park.

Believing the rule changes can make it “one of the most exciting field games to watch”, Dublin’s six-time All-Ireland SFC winner disputed the idea the alterations may move it closer to Australian Rules.

Proposals such as the “tap and go”, a one versus one throw-in at the start of each half, a clock/hooter and a recommendation to replace substitutes with rolling interchanges are all applied in AFL (“tap and go” is a form of AFL’s advantage rule). Their plan to increase the value of a goal to four points moves it one point closer to the six it is worth in the Antipodean sport.

The introduction of a third type of score – two points for kicks converted on or outside the new 40m arc – also harks of International Rules where there are six points for a goal, two points for a score over the bar and one for a behind either side of the main set of posts but within the wide posts. There is also an arc (50m) drawn on an AFL field.

As Dublin manager five years ago, Gavin warned that the GAA was “one rule away from becoming Australian Rules”. In 2021, he reiterated his concern that it would morph into AFL if their tackle was introduced to Gaelic football.

Speaking at Thursday’s launch of the FRC interim report ahead of the interprovincial games, he maintains the FRC’s experimental rules don’t bring the sports closer together even if they were once much more similar.

“The scoring system, we don't have. You still have to put the ball over the bar, AFL, in fairness to the game, you can kick it wide and get a score for it. That's their rule, I'm not criticising it.

“In terms of evolution, when (Maurice) Davin sat down on January 17, 1885 and produced the first rulebook, they played into a soccer goal. That's what they did. There were no posts. They borrowed the Australian rules. The perception that we get under the posts, that's not true, we took from them. They planted two posts, 65 feet either side of the main posts in case the lads were missing and then they eventually settled on the ‘H’ shape.” 

Referencing last weekend’s “sandbox” game between Cavan and Kildare teams in Mullahoran, Gavin continued: “I believe when you see the game and I don’t want to bias people because that’s unfair, but when you see it, you’ll go, ‘Well there’s not too much different about that. That is Gaelic football, it’s not Australian Rules football, rugby league, or soccer. That’s Gaelic football because you can kick it, you can get it, you can shoulder, you can hand-pass, you can go backwards, you can forwards’.

“I would be very conscious of that particular point that we don’t come up with something that isn’t the game we grew up on. There was a gentleman in the stand in Mullahoran who said it was a long time since he saw Cavan score 2-21. He meant it in a very positive way. He was very enthused by what he saw.”

Gavin is known for being a measured man but he has been encouraged by the recent sandbox games in Mullahoran and Armagh. “The data we’re seeing is high speed running is through the roof. We’ve seen a lot more kick-passing. The amount of shots we’ve had on goal, it’s beyond anything I’ve seen recently and the games I’ve been involved in as manager.” 

It is believed the four interprovincial games will be split into quarters with rolling changes allowed to be made to teams to ensure rotation. “What’s the worst case scenario that can happen next week?” repeated Gavin when asked the question. “The worst case scenario is that players get very fatigued and the game gets messy. Maybe that’s the worst case. It’s just hard to see it not working.” 

Gavin has been further encouraged by senior inter-county managers’ reactions to their rule proposals. The real test, he says, is on October 26 when Central Council decide on what goes forward to Special Congress on November 30.

“Not one manager said, ‘Leave it alone.’ So, that would give you confidence that they would articulate that to their county board chairs. But the real test is Ard Chomhairle (Central Council). The Ard Chomhairle members who represent the counties need to vote for it.” Gavin admitted some goalkeepers have expressed reservations about the limits put on where they can receive a pass – inside the large rectangle or beyond the halfway line.

“The only thumbs down we’ve got from players really is goalkeepers saying the back-pass is too harsh on them. And I think it's only when they get the experience of being able to support the play that they’ll come around. They can go where they want, just receiving the ball inside their own half isn’t on.”