Football rule changes opened league's integrity to scrutiny — and maybe objection

SOUR TASTE: GAA Football Review Committee chairperson Jim Gavin, second from left, with, from left, Chairman of Offaly GAA Tom Parlon, Offaly County board Pat Teehan and former Offaly players Michael Duignan and Matt Connor during half time at the Allianz Football League Division 3 match between Offaly and Sligo at Glenisk O'Connor Park in Tullamore, Offaly. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

At Jim Gavin’s briefing to the Irish Sports Law Bar Association in January before the start of the Allianz Football League, solicitor Conor Sally had a query about the 12 v 11 overload.

Tyrone man Sally’s point was that teams would use the numerical advantage as much to retain possession as to attack, which ran against what Gavin’s Football Review Committee (FRC) were trying to achieve.

Gavin highlighted there was risk as well as reward attached to committing goalkeepers forward but acknowledged Sally’s argument. “That’s why we’re going to monitor it during the league and it might be one thing that it’s either no change or there could be a modification.” 

The concerns raised by Sally and the likes of coach and performance analyst Stephen O’Meara played out across the first five rounds of the league to the point that it was one of six FRC-proposed amendments that were endorsed at Monday’s Central Council meeting. From Saturday, teams must keep four players rather than three in their own half at all times.

It was initially believed the changes would only come in for the provincial championships but because they were deemed modest they will be operative for the remaining 32 Allianz League round games and the four finals.

Modest, though, is a most modest description of the alterations. Up to now, accidental breaches of the halfway line were at times punished by two-point frees. Now, they will escape penalty. Keeping an additional player back could also reduce scoring. The flipside of that is that scores conceded may be reduced but in separating teams after total score difference “highest total score for” is considered before “highest total score against”.

It is clearly assumed anything that happens over the next couple of weekends won’t diverge significantly from the previous five. But what if the damage has been done already? What if enough has happened for counties to object to the outcome of the competition?

It's perfectly human that county set-ups in peril of relegation, losing Sam Maguire Cup status or missing out on promotion are asking questions about the league’s integrity. 

“From our point of view and I know from others in the mix of the competition, I don’t know if it’s particularly fair that they are changed midstream,” said Cork manager John Cleary earlier this week.

Would Tyrone have lost to Kerry in Pomeroy last month if Kerry were required, as they will be now, to retain three players irrespective of losing players to black or red cards?

Might Down have taken something in Newry last month if Meath had to keep three players inside the home team’s half of the field? They were also on the attack when the hooter sounded for full-time. In a similar situation this weekend, they can continue.

Would Armagh and Mayo, currently in a Division 1 purgatory, be higher in the top flight were it not for the amount of times they were hit by two-point frees for three-up infringements?

Technically, Down and the other seven counties in Division 2 had already played under different parameters this season. For the first two rounds of their group, the clock/hooter was not in operation before it was introduced from round three onwards.

The same might be said for the 32 county teams regarding the 20-second time limit for kick-outs, which was applicable from Round 4 (later applicable to free kicks) has now been increased to 30. Other tweaks incorporated after the start of the league included what can be said by players other than the captain that isn’t considered dissent and solo and go and handing back the ball clarifications.

The goalposts had already been shifting but the backstop for the FRC and the GAA with the six rule alterations is the enabling motion that was passed at Special Congress in November: 93% voted for the proposal, which allowed Central Council “to rescind or amend any rule changes made by this Special Congress”.

Although the possibility was there, delegates didn’t specifically vote for those alterations to be made during the league. As per the motion, the option to hold off on them until it was concluded was there.

Changing rules during a competition is a gamble, even more so when it has implications for another namely the championship. If there are challenges to the finishing positions, they will come quick. An objection to a result has to be lodged with three days of the game. If a county’s qualification for the Sam Maguire Cup is on the line as a result of their final league placing, they can’t wait until the provincial championships to find out.

The FRC have preached about boards and managers needing to look at the bigger picture but try telling that to them if they are facing relegation on the back of two sets of rules. Those counties' Official Guide hawks are watching closely now. The GAA’s powers-that-be are holding their breaths.