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

Pretty much yeah. A very good portion of teams would go defensive and try an reduce the game to a game of potshots. This would be particularly effective for underdogs or typically less talented teams, increasing randomness into the equation. It might make certain games higher scoring but im fairly certain it would make the majority lower scoring.

There's also the nightmare scenario where a defensive team gets a lucky goal and is 3 or 4 in the second half or something. At that point, they just bring everyone back, knowing the opposition will have to score 4 or 5 'worldies' within the shot clock to beat them

That's just an opinion now, maybe it would work. I'd just be very surprised

Hmm.. fairly typical comment from someone who I would suggest should know better.

Like sit back and instead of putting in an input just turn your back to the game and ignore the obvious flaws.

I don’t operate like that ,my friend.

If I see obvious flaws I try to fix them, ok it’s just on a message board, but I certainly just don’t sit back and think everything is ok and there are no flaws that could be corrected.

I fully accept that you are a committed GAA head and do tremendous work out there, but would have thought you would have copped that I have the best intentions for Gaelic games.

You never know, do you.

Typical by being sensible. And this is typical of you:

"Load of fcukkery"

You obviously don’t see the need to discuss this issue in any respectful way, my friend.

Don’t get your point, my friend?

Whims of certain cohorts?

Who would they be? What do they want.

Now Mr S ..I see you as a committed supporter but my point would be that games need to be entertaining for the spectator.

Doesnt mean tinkering with the rules too much but the current offering for me is not a good watch.

Like I said watched two games yesterday…..

scenario

Kick out short… gain possession…22 passes later just over the halfway line..defenders retreat into their own half.. now 25 to 28 players in one half of the field… more passes and eventually attackers lose possession.

Has to be said Tyrone were much more open and attacking… saved the game from stagnating.

I prefer to call it constructive criticism rather than moaning.

I can only judge by what you write. Going by that, if the cohort was short on bodies, you would probably lend a hand.

"Let’s be honest the game is “muck’ right now.

This possession football is killing the game. Make no mistake about that.

30 or 40 hand passes to try to engineer a score….nah mate…you can keep that.

GAA. need to act fast or these borefests like Derry v Dublin will continue."

Just walked in to the house and Terrace Talk was on Radio Kerry earlier.

And all that they were talking about was how bad modern football was and how it was awful and no entertainment etc etc.

You could set your watch by those guys.

Personally speaking no I don't think so.

It's just that particular show and their game commentaries are monopolized by guys who won stuff with Kerry in the 80s and there isn't a single modern voice to be heard.

It's all complaining about "tactics" and how the game is all about "tactics"

Rather than give out all the time about "tactics" why not have someone on air to analyze "tactics"

In fairness it is harder to get the ball off an opposing player than most sports.

It's far too easy to retain possession.

thats a stupid take. they have extra goal posts as they also use far bigger pitch in many cases to allow higher scoring

I have played gaelic football, not for years admittedly and at a very low level.

I have also played soccer as well where it's far more difficult to keep possession of the ball and far easier to miscontrol it.

Same applies to hurling too even though as I said earlier in the thread it has its own set of challenges as a sport despite the fact we keep hearing it's the 'best sport in the world' every 5 seconds.

I'm a huge fan of football but I do think that what spectators are ultimately frustrated with is the lateral hand passing etc. This is a direct consequence of it being too easy to retain possession and reduces the unpredictability of open play.

You essentially have to wait for the team in possession to make a mistake with their passing or shooting to get back the ball.

What I'm trying to say is rather than hand passing being the symptom of everything that is perceived as being bad about the sport as mentioned so many times on this thread that instead it's the tackle that's the problem.

In saying all of that football has arguably never been better. Watch old games, you'd be surprised how dire they were and the low levels of skill involved.

Good post which quite rightly points to the tackle in GF as a problem.

Now before everyone tries to explain the ‘correct ‘ tackle I know what it is so can that.

Its the one on ones are the real problem.

I see players on one to one encounters going up close and then bursting past the defender who has very

little chance of dispossessing..result is usually a free for the attacker.

I would prefer if the onus was on the attacker to play the ball if possible before taking it into the tackle.

This s**t again.

Do you know that Donegal lost that game?

Do you know that they came back the next year with a completely different high tempo game plan and won the All Ireland ?

But it failed as a tactic, and Donegal came back a year later with a much different approach that won them an All Ireland.

People take games in insolation where one or both teams adopt a "defense first" approach and then bemoan it as being puke football and the end of the world.

What they ignore is that the most successful teams win games and championships by being aggressive and attacking.

It is very hard to tackle effectively. For instance Sam Callinan for Mayo made a great interception against Donegal by flicking the ball away from the Donegal player as he soloed it.

This is one of the ways a defender can win the ball but how often do you see it? Once a game, probably not. It stood out to me because it's so infrequent. Isn't that what the solo is there for essentially to allow a window for an interception when there isn't an opportunity to shoulder a player. However, it rarely ever happens and showcases how hard it is to win possession as a defender.

It's evidently not simple.

Players have never been trained better to tackle and yet you still rarely see interceptions like I pointed out.

This suggests it's the rules that are inadequate rather than the skillset of the players.

Because in the modern game the opposition are not interested in engaging with attackers until they get nearer the goals. And they arrange their defence accordingly. Then as you have pointed out before yourself, the man in possession is likey to have two or more in close proximity. It demands a high level of fitness on both sides. There are variations, such as pressure on the kickout leading to contested balls in the air. Or long kicks into the goal area, a low percentage option when a goal is needed. But in general it is more like soccer, playing out from the back.

Some people are saying that it is skewed in favour of defenders, where they can "swarm" around the man in possession. But the number of scores being achieved would point to a healthy balance. Better than years ago when it was a one on one, and possession was given up far too easily.