Of all the pointless ideas to change Gaelic Football, Joe Brolly’s is the best.
If you pretend for a second that fundamental transformations to the game are not just necessary but okay, then you can at least see the intention of his plan.
“For the kick-outs, only the four midfielders are permitted to be between the 45s,” Brolly explains in the Irish Independent. “For the kick-outs, there must be six on six inside each 45, just like for the throw in. The kick-out must go beyond the 45 and no other player can break the 45m line until one of the midfielders has touched the ball.”
So, if you find defensive tactics so insulting or really, genuinely think that they are destroying the GAA – despite every other game-based sport in the world putting up with similar issues – then the idea of keeping six-on-six inside the 45′ allows attackers to attack with more freedom and space and it speeds up the game.
There are a lot of problems though. Of course there are. You can’t suggest basal changes to a 132-year game and not expect some repercussions.
"Every time you don't enjoy a sporting occasion, you can't be crying to change the rules," writes @ConanDoherty https://t.co/TdohhBG3CC
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 18, 2016
First, a few home truths.
- Just like other sports, Gaelic Football does implement tweaks and changes – despite the school of radical thought constantly citing other sports’ changes. From sin-bins to black cards to marks and basic things like being able to hand-pass over the bar, the sport has constantly been adapting as the game evolves – like every sport. It has not, however, changed the way it’s played – like every sport.
- Teams should be allowed to deploy tactics to give themselves a better chance of winning – regardless if it’s entertaining or not. Again, every other sport puts up with it.
- Dublin games are dull enough as it is without forcing weaker sides to try and limit their attack with just six defenders. 20-point hammerings (which would potentially become 30+) are much worse than a 0-9 to 0-8 slug-fest.
But the biggest, most glaring issue from Joe Brolly’s proposals is how they would immediately and completely do away with the traditional midfielder.
Has Joe Brolly ever seen the space between two 45s?
Imagine – really just f**king imagine for a second – two v two inside that area. How on earth do you think that would pan out?
At Croke Park, there are 54.5 metres between both 45s. There are 88 metres between both sidelines.
2 v 2 in a 54.5 x 88 zone.
Do you think the ‘keeper is going to lump it down the middle and let them go at it? Or do you not just think that managers won’t be so bloody stupid and instead deploy their fastest, nippiest players in that wide-open space to contest 35-50 bouts of primary possession?
All you’d have to do is plant one man on one sideline, another man on the other, and tell one of them to sprint onto a drilled pass from a ‘keeper. Every single time, the ball would land in his chest on the run and you’d have a 7 v 6 scenario unfolding in attack. It would be pure chaos and it would completely redefine the GAA midfielder.
Would Dick Clerkin, Fergal Doherty, Ciaran Whelan, any of these midfield legends be required anymore if you were offering players so much space and so little attention?
Is the art of winning breaking ball so redundant that we can afford to get rid of that altogether from the game as well?
You’d have speed and agility in that middle third to get free from one marker and to try and manage the impossible job of keeping track of your man for the opposition kick out.
And you can’t change the rule to the space between the two 65s because, just like this idea anyway, you can’t just presume that the ‘keeper will or can kick a ball that far at any given point.
This idea of having four midfielders in such a space is ludicrous – even if the misguided intentions might satisfy the defence to attack ratio.
The high catch would be gone. The breaking ball, gone. The big man, extinct.
In their place would be pace, ball-carriers, and a devoid of tactics. In their place would be more athleticism being prioritised over skill.
In their place would be a stupid game of easy, unchallenged scores and something unrecognisable from the sport we’ve harnessed and grown for over a century now.
All this just because some people simply like to whinge.
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