Sigerson Cup decision to opt out of new rules is part of football’s tricky balancing act

The new GAA rule changes won't come into effect in Sigerson competition until next year. 

Change is not ubiquitous. On a weekend where special congress overwhelmingly approved the proposed Gaelic football rules, the GAA’s higher education competitions committee confirmed they were opting out. This is what their managers wanted.

Prior to Saturday’s proceedings in Croke Park, a link was sent out to universities and colleges in the Sigerson Cup and lower third-level football competitions. They were asked for their feedback about the rules and how it would impact their upcoming competitions, with the Sigerson Cup set to start in early January. A strong majority were in favour of playing the competitions under the existing regulations.

For everyone concerned at every level of the game, the timelines are nerve-racking. Gaelic football rules can only come in a year divisible by five. The National League is scheduled to start on January 25th. The Football Review Committee (FRC) plan to provide training for all key stakeholders with the rollout for intercounty referees beginning on December 9.

Adopting the new rules would mean colleges competitions had a month to develop a strategy, educate officials and line pitches including the artificial surfaces that games take place on. The safer bet was to carry on with what is established.

A further complication is the fact that the league competitions were played under the old rules. The Senior Football League final between DCU and UCC will only take place this week. In the case of that competition, it is administratively tied to the Sigerson Cup.

The four teams who finish bottom of the league are drawn against each other in the opening round, with the losers playing each other in the Round 2B-relegation final. This poses a question that the intercounty game could well have to answer very soon. During this trial period, when can they make the call to tweak or change?

On Saturday Jim Gavin hinted at this oncoming issue. Central Council can now rescind and amend any rule change made by special congress. A motion must be submitted by the Management Committee at the request of the Standing Committee on Playing Rules or the Rules Advisory Committee.

“We will respond to what we see very, very quickly. It won’t be our decision though,” said Gavin.

GAA Football Review Committee chairperson Jim Gavin reading from the GAA's official guide during the GAA Special Congress 2024.

“We’ll obviously be at the coalface of it and if we see something, we respond to it and push it up. We can adapt very quickly. It is whether Central Council want to make any changes to rules in competition.

“I don’t know, I’m answering as honestly as I can, they might make a decision as an example, we hear what you are saying, we’re going to wait until the end of the conclusion of the national league for example until we make that change.

“There might be an unintended consequence that we played particular games under one set of rules, there is change and teams might say, ‘that is unfair. We had to play against whatever teams under this rule with this scoring system. Now you have changed it halfway though.’” It is understood that the Higher Education board were open to allowing the senior league be part of the FRC’s trial, but the timelines were never likely to fit. That competition commenced in the same week the interprovincial series took place. Rules were still being actively developed, the four-point goal had yet to be discarded.

All of that is part of the process. For decades, the GAA has struggled to identify a suitable testing ground for new rules. To their credit, the college competitions have been a willing platform for previous experiments. Now the entire 2025 season is the platform.

That brings its own problems. A whole host of players and referees in the Sigerson Cup will be learning a new set of rules while still operating under existing ones. That is liable to prompt widespread confusion. Managers who were in favour of adopting the new rules also made the point that it was a brilliant opportunity for the Sigerson Cup to be the centre of attention and give the public a first glimpse given there are no preseason competitions.

Gavin’s example is also an astute one. If a rule isn’t working, there is a need to weigh up the pros of fixing it with the cons of changing rules within a competition. It makes the week between the end of the league and the start of the championship a seismic one.

It is a certainty that Gaelic football is set for change but the extent of it is still unknown. Further introductions or withdrawals are an obvious possibility. What does that mean for the competitions themselves? There are still basketball fans and pundits who refer to the 2020 Lakers Covid championship as one with an Asterisk. Will the calls for leeway with officials over the next few months as they get used to the new order also extend to managers when it comes to assessing their performances?

The FRC will now continue with their ambition to make Gaelic football the most enjoyable amateur game in the world to play and watch having spectacularly cleared a potential hurdle. There are more to follow.