Why wont die hard GAA fans admit football these days is muck?

Things seemed to have moved on from the claim that teams only shoot when they are almost certain to score. Perhaps me pointing out the number of wides in games, has changed opinions.

Natural skill, and more importantly training is the key to improving tackling. Practice makes perfect. As a non player, I would always look to those who play the game for guidance.

"Practice makes perfect"

"We do tackling all the time in training because in this day and age there are quality free-takers all over the pitch, left and right side. If you are giving away frees it is basically a score. It is something you have to concentrate on all the time. It is one of our main focuses really."

As was pointed out by Charlie Harrisson, the player making that rush, has to bounce or solo the ball within four steps. That is where the defender(s) should make their move.

"I always tell kids that the person has to solo or play the ball so you have a lot more time because all you are doing is running and you don't have to worry about the ball.

"A key thing to remember is that it is always the inside arm or the near hand as it is sometimes called. The hand that is closest to the ball. You have to wait until your opponent plays the ball - a solo, a hop or when they kick it - that is your chance to pounce."

With all due respect you can’t compare “the past” to the present day regarding frees.

In the past a forward could follow the high ball into the square and as soon as the keeper fielded it could bury him and ball and maybe a few loose teeth in the back the net.

And that’s only one example….let’s not go there .

With all due respects you keep answering questions which were not asked and have little to do with the post posted.

I would disagree with almost all of that…

Goalkeeper much more protected

Pulling down players going in on goal much changed

Freetaking regime much changed including sidelines .

I would see the overuse of the handpass and the propensity of the desire for possession football

as slowing killing the game as an entertaining watch.

Like I said 49 hand passes to end in a free to the defense is not my idea of entertaining and

exciting football…. and never will be.

Needs to be addressed.

Swarm defence I believe it’s called, in that case dropping the ball would be the only way to avoid being penalised.

Not that I know of.

I don’t think your suggestion would be practicable, to be honest.

I don’t think major change is needed, just tweaking here and there .

I would concentrate on the excessive handpassing and putting more responsibility on the ball carrier to release the ball.

I don't mind frees going backwards as a last resort. But nowadays, it seems to be the default position for players when they win a free, and it is not kickable for a score - the first reaction seems to be to turn around and kick it backwards. Not everyone does it of course, but a very significant amount do.

Another poster mentioned about the swarmed "tackle". I think there was a rule previously whereby you couldn't have a 2 man tackle. But I think that was done away with a number of years ago.

There are many teams with 6'4 forwards. You'd need a very specific type player to carry that role. Would need to be strong enough to hold of a couple of defenders trying to hold him off from jumping. You'd need a very good fetcher of the ball. the player would need the skillset to release the ball asap before getting swarmed by the nearby defenders. And he would need to be able to kick accurately if getting a mark. Also if the only tactic that a team is showing is belting in a high ball, you would need players who can deliver a ball 40 metres and for it to drop approx. head high in front of the forward. If that is the only tactic, the opposition will prioritise pressuring the kicker so they don't get time to put in the perfect ball.

The big full forward has been tried before against mass defenses. You could be lucky and haver the other forwards clean up breaks. But generally it doesn't work. And for some reason, refs seem to give defenders the benefit of doubt against the larger forward.

1.8 Player(s) may tackle an opponent for the ball.

There is a process to change rules or bring in new ones, nothing is easy. The first consideration for your ideas, would be whether the players would accept them. You could say that in soccer there should be a rule to stop players going to the corner flag to waste time, or to stop a certain number of the oppositon crowding round him. But that would just be pointless interference with the natural flow of the game.

If I was a coach, I would advise players unable to release the ball to a colleague, to hold on and have a free against them given. That way his team has a better chance of organising the defence, than if he releases the ball to the opposition. Any game I was at, it was the referee who got it wrong when a player was being tackled by more than one of the oppositon. One section of the crowd were shouting "Ref, that's a free, they won't let him play the ball". The other section were shouting "How long Ref, how long".

I think what you are referring to the ‘Third man tackle’

What that was was a player on say team A blocking a player from team B from getting near the ball carrier from team A.

That was outlawed some time ago.

There needs to be a rule brought in to limit the amount of handpassing. Start off with something like, the ball must be kicked after a solo. If you had time to solo you had time to kick it. That will cut down on lads standing up taking a solo then firing a 5yard handpass to another guy who does the same and sends it back. You can go on a solo run, hopping and soloing all you like but once you move the ball on it must be a kick.

The handpassed score should also be eliminated. Changing these two things would have a dramatic change on the way the game is played. A kick pass is probably 60-70% less likely to be pinpoint accurate than a handpass. It also opens up the possibilty of being blocked as the defender knows the ball must be kicked. The higher rate of turnovers would result in more defenders staying back as the likelihood of being caught for a goal on the counter will go up dramaticaly. Pressing will also be easier, resulting in more turnovers.

Running into a crowded penalty area will more likely result in a block or a turnover with no handpass score option so shots will be taken from further out as the percentage of success will be higher.

It would also be worth exploring placing an arc that would run from half way between the sideline and the post out to 35m. Shots from inside would be worth 1pt. Shots from outside would be worth 2pts. Cynical fouls inside the arc would result in a penalty. Cynical fouls in the rest of the pitch would result in a free from the edge of the arc.

I fear that the cynical players would reject your ideas. Just like they rejected the 3 handpass limit, after it was tried for a while.

No doubt, but the GAA need to decide whether they want the game to die or to bring an exciting spectacle that everyone wants to watch. Short term thinking that benefits the few is what Ireland is built on and its never served us well, in sport or politics. All the major sports try to improve their product so more people will watch. Rugby brought in the 50:22 to encourage attacking rugby. They brought in bonus points for 4 tries.

I looked in the local paper last week and one of the most storied Colleges in GAA was eliminated in the group stages of the championship but their Rubgy team is in the final. Rugby wasn't even in the school 10yrs ago. Now its becoming a true option as a first preference. The GAA need to grasp the nettle. Implement positive rules changes and start the move away from the provincial farce.

As someone who’d follow any sport- Gaelic football is charterless and any fool could play it without been any good similar to soccer which equally any fool could play .

Rugby & Hurling are by a country mile the two most entertaining sports to watch of mainstream Irish sports .

Hang on you're the one who said about football that "any fool could play it without been any good".

So it's ok to criticise football but god forbit anyone does the same to rugby?

Maybe you should follow your own advice of if you can't even admit/see there is any skill then don't even mention it.

Where did i say anything like any fool could play it without being any good?

Thats just completely ignorant. Its a territorial based game and you can regain possession from a lineout with a decent contest...

Manage what, a kickpass after a solo is easier to implement than calling for steps or the mark. If you can't tell whether a fella kicked the ball after he soloed then its time to retire. Counting handpasses was a receipe for disaster and was rightfully scrapped.

Have you ever watched old games where free kicks had to be taken from the ground? It slowed down the game massively.

Imposing such a rule would be hugely regressive. I honestly can't believe anyone would think it's a good idea to make the game a better spectacle!

Why do people insist on suggesting adding a second ref when there already is issues with the 4 umpires and linesmen. Give them more powers and train them more and look at rules before adding another ref and doing very little else.

Big generalisation saying most games are puke and have been because of blanket defence.

What would you replace black card with. I think a sin bin for yellow/black offences. simple