Good Article on how to imptove the SFC

Yavvy

Fresh injection for GAA

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=95&si=1170855&iss
ue_id=10786

My Ten Commandments to improve championship fare

WITH only the two league football finals now to be played, it's fair to
say that the shadowboxing is over in intercounty football for this year.
All the greyhound-like talk about managers 'blooding' new players in the
league and the arguments about whether certain counties really are or
are not interested in the league is now at an end. Next Sunday New York
and Mayo kick-start the 2004 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland championship in
a small field in The Bronx.

As is always the case, many people are pessimistic about what the 2004
championship has in store. But then it has seldom been otherwise in
recent years as gaelic football has undoubtedly declined in quality and
the level of entertainment it provides for spectators who are now paying
very high admission prices to view the championship games. There are
many aspects of football which concern a lot of people but here are my
own ten suggestions which, if applied, would certainly make watching
Gaelic football matches in the 2004 championship more attractive.

1 Make it compulsory for team managers to name their team lineouts by
the middle of the week prior to a game. GAA fans love to have something
to talk about before a big game but when a manager refuses to name a
team he is insulting those followers whose money keeps the whole show on
the road - including the manager's 'expenses.' The published team need
not be 100 per cent accurate because of injuries, etc. but the fans
deserve to have some idea of what their team will be.

2 Somebody in the higher echelons of the GAA, preferably President Seán
Kelly, should call in all intercounty referees now and instruct them to
apply the playing rules the same way in all games. For example, can we
get rid of one referee punishing a player for taking a free from the
wrong position while another referee does not. Or worse, the referee who
DOES blow up one player but in the same match ignores the same thing
when another players does it. Surely after 120 years of activity the GAA
can get simple things like that implemented ?

3 Book and give a yellow card to any player who feigns injury to win a
free or to entice a referee to send an opponent off. This is totally
against the true spirit of GAA games and disgusts the average spectator.


4 Referees to punish, as per the rulebook, those players who illegally
interfere with the player who has just released the ball in order to
prevent him running on for a possible return pass. This is totally
negative and destructive play which very often leads to retaliation and
an escalation of

dirty play. After all, the third man tackle was removed from the
rulebook 30

years ago but this is a 'refined' version of the same principle.

5 Players to shoot more often for points from the 20-50 metre range.
They will only do this if managers encourage them and if practise of
this traditional skill is incorporated into all training-sessions. This
is not the case at present and this is why one of the greatest skills in
football is rapidly disappearing.

Most forwards will not shoot for a point now unless they can see the
colour of the goalkeeper's eyes, with the exception of Galway, who
always do.

6 Could we have a few goalkeepers with the courage to actually KICK the
ball from their hands 40 to 60 yards out the field to a halfback or a
midfielder rather than what's happening at present where the 'keeper
automatically gives a fist-pass to a defender and it takes three or four
more such passes to get the ball to the midfield area. It is repetitive,
boring for spectators and indicates lack of a long kick. They or their
manager have no faith in the player's ability to contest and win the
50/50 ball with an opponent.

7 The GAA to start the process of appointing qualified referees to act
as umpires in all championship games.

The days of a referee gathering up four of his mates on the morning of a
match to act as umpires should be long over. Referees as umpires would
be obliged to report all fouls, etc. to the referee should he have
missed them. This could revolutionise the handling of games and
eliminate goalmouth controversies.

8 Talking of controversies, of which there will be many again this year.
Referees' reports involving sendings off and the like should be written
before the referee leaves the stadium.

The GAC should deal with the contentious matters within 72 hours. The
GAA is a laughing stock every year because ot the long drawn out manner
in which the disciplinary process is conducted.

If they want to avoid more bad publicity they should sort out these
things much more quickly.

9 If referees and their linesmen are going to be 'wired up' to each
other as in rugby, can we please not have their comments relayed on
radio or television. To do so would automatically inhibit the officials
and would completely undermine the whole purpose of having them
communicate with each other.

Do you really think that a linesman is going to say to a referee:
'Johnny Bloggs has just hit Paddy Bliggs a box in the mouth behind your
back', if he knows it is going out live on television ?

10 Any chance of just handing over trophies after finals and forget
about the torturous speeches from GAA officer and winning captain ?

eugenemcg@hotmail.com

The Rooster

Wow, I could have written most of that!

1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 are particular bug-bears (or whatever the word is!) of mine.

Dammit, I just realised it was Eugene McGee who penned it. Hate agreeing with him:(

Imposter

I agree with most of it as well.
Numbers 1 and 6 won't work though.

Number 1 will fall down where teams (Meath spring to mind for some reason!) deliberately would leave many AN Other places or switch players into plausible but false positions. It would defeat the purpose of what it is trying to acheive.

Number 6 won't work and makes about as much sense as an underwater hairdryer. Goalkeepers being the last line of defence need to be as careful as possible with their distribution. It's bad enough with kick-outs when your midfield seem to be winning nothing and the ball returns seemingly every time without trying to make the keeper lose posession quicker in open play. Playing devils advocate here but why not penalise people who deliberately try to break a ball. Surely supporters love seeing clean catches. Why not ban all handpassing between the 2 45's?

As for the referee related ones I agree with them but umpires do have the power to tell the ref what's happened. These people whether referees or not probably know the rules as well as the ref but just don't tell the ref what they've seen. The problem is not that they are not refs. Also the ref would have to make the final judgement anyway.

Referees also have a hard time because the rules aren't all that clear. Add a defined tackle like what exists in the compromise rules and the amount of pulling and dragging would be severely reduced if not eliminated. Having it defined would also mean that it's not open to interpretation and therefore all refs act the same on the matter.

Yavvy

yeah, have to agree with you guys on most of that..

1. should be in placer already...

2. He does make the point that referees have not been given a clear defination of the rules... But also makes the point of ref's being inconsistant in the same game. I do think something must be done to raise the standard (btw I thought the ref between Galway and Tyrone was excellent)

3. is a huge issue ! I think Its a disgrace when a player fakes an injury and they should even go as afr as using video evidence after a game incase the ref missed it.

Did anyone notie how tyrone players started getting hurt a lot more when they were one point up ? Dooher springs to mind ...Im sick of it

4. Well it is tough for ref's to keep an eye on this ( nice to see Darragh O Se getting punished for it) I think this is where linesmen and umpires need to be more vocal

5. i totally agree here, nothing better than seing your team wack a point over form 40 yards...nothing a good full backline can do about that...

6. well I understand his reasoning but imposter is right..the keepers job is to get the ball away safley. if the keeper did have the skill to kick the ball 40 yards and hit his man on the chect it would make for some excellent attacking football !

7. why not ? or why not properly train umpires

8. Agreed..before he has had a chance to watch the highlights , he should report what he thnk he saw

9. Actually I kinda agree with this in some ways and disagree in others.
its a hard call but it does work well in rugby

10. A Cara, A Cara..why dont we just have a speach from the winning Captain ....

cournioni

Umpires don't have enough of a say in the game for my liking. There are lots of occasions where there has been a scrap off the ball and neither the ref or the lino's see the incident. Surely the umpires can see everything that is happening in front of them.

klong

The question of umpires doesnt just occur in senior,inter-county matches. theres the underage games where parents are asked by team officialsto be umpires...who then may be ignored by the referee as happened my dad last week, he signalled a 45,the other umpire said wide,referee asked the other umpire and a kick-out was given.
should there be some sort of an independent citing commissioner and/or a video referee also? it seems to work well in rugby...