Should we have a lighter football?

Pappy o' daniel

Watching the soccer, you'd see goalkeepers kicking the ball from their hands well past half way, maybe 65m about 70 yards. I play both sports and its obvious how much heavier the GAA ball is.

Everyone is complaining about handpassing and puke football, a ball that could be kicked a further 20 yards would encourage long kicking, it would change the game.
Teams have tried the possession game in hurling, but it never caught on because you cant beat a long puc. Instead of messing with the rules every year I think the GAA should look into changing the ball.

aidan24326

Absolutely not. The ball is fine as it is.

Frank Spencer

Good question OP.

In my opinion no. If it ain't broke don't fix it. One of the many great things about Gaelic football is the consistency of the ball from the lowest grade of football to the highest. Everyone uses the same ball.

Look at the current problems in the World Cup with the jubulani ball. The powers that be in soccer seem to be chasing an impossible dream of the perfect ball but the problem is they will never be happy and will always be looking to "improve" it. I would not be in favour of the GAA going down that road. Also a lighter ball would be more difficult to control when kicking off the ground and off a tee. I believe frees would be more difficult to convert and the accuracy of kick-outs would suffer.

User Friendly

no,leave the ball alone.:)

Junior D

Frank Spencer wrote: »

Good question OP.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. One of the many great things about Gaelic football is the consistency of the ball from the lowest grade of football to the highest. Everyone uses the same ball.

Look at the current problems in the World Cup with the jubulani ball. The powers that be in soccer seem to be chasing an impossible dream of the perfect ball but the problem is they will never be happy and will always be looking to "improve" it. I would not be in favour of the GAA going down that road. Also a lighter ball would be more difficult to control when kicking off the ground and off a tee. I believe frees would be more difficult to convert and the accuracy of kick-outs would suffer.

Perfect response

unknown13

No, it is Gaelic Football not Aussie Rules.

WesternZulu

Ever try and kick about a soccer ball playing gaelic?

The wind takes it every where...a lighter ball would mean that it would probably end up being harder to score points as the wind has an even greater influence on a kick.

toiletduck

WesternZulu wrote: »

Ever try and kick about a soccer ball playing gaelic?

Lol, yeah did it last week with the housemates soccer ball. Some bounce!

blackbelt

Had the experience of having to use a training ball when refereeing a match a good few weeks back.Home teams ball goes into the nettles and didn't have anymore balls except the training ball.Away team refuses to provide a ball even though they have some as the rule is the home team provides it.

It made for an interesting game of football with longer range points being scored.The refusal actually backfired on the away team as the home team had a fantastic free taker from the ground.

Maybe its not all that bad.

Pappy o' daniel

Frank Spencer wrote: »

Good question OP.

In my opinion no. If it ain't broke don't fix it. One of the many great things about Gaelic football is the consistency of the ball from the lowest grade of football to the highest. Everyone uses the same ball.

Look at the current problems in the World Cup with the jubulani ball. The powers that be in soccer seem to be chasing an impossible dream of the perfect ball but the problem is they will never be happy and will always be looking to "improve" it. I would not be in favour of the GAA going down that road. Also a lighter ball would be more difficult to control when kicking off the ground and off a tee. I believe frees would be more difficult to convert and the accuracy of kick-outs would suffer.

Good points there, cant disagree with any of that.

keane2097

Great question OP.

I don't think it would be a good idea, but it's certainly the kind of outside the box thinking needed to get teams kicking the ball.

I'm pretty confident that disincentivising the hand pass is not going to do the trick.

flahavaj

Maybe they could try the Jabulani. :pac:

wixfjord

WesternZulu wrote: »

Ever try and kick about a soccer ball playing gaelic?

The wind takes it every where...a lighter ball would mean that it would probably end up being harder to score points as the wind has an even greater influence on a kick.

Completely agree with this. Very difficult to be accurate from the hand with a plasticy soccer ball than a good old O Neills (although Im not that accurate with that either )

Lex Luthor

I think the outer surface of the ball definately needs to be looked at. In the rain, they are like bars of soap and I've seen it spoil games with the ball constantly slipping out of the players hands

Pride Fighter

Perhaps allowing punted kick outs could be an option to get play moving closer to the scoring areas. In hurling you do not have to take a sideline cut type of free to start play, the keepers puck outs can travel huge distances and get the action moving closer to the opposite goal.

Frank Spencer

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Perhaps allowing punted kick outs could be an option to get play moving closer to the scoring areas. In hurling you do not have to take a sideline cut type of free to start play, the keepers puck outs can travel huge distances and get the action moving closer to the opposite goal.

I'd be of the opinion that most keepers would get more distance off the tee than out of their hands. There would definitely be better accuracy off the tee

Maybe I'm wrong.

aidan24326

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Perhaps allowing punted kick outs could be an option to get play moving closer to the scoring areas. In hurling you do not have to take a sideline cut type of free to start play, the keepers puck outs can travel huge distances and get the action moving closer to the opposite goal.

That's the kind of thinking we need, not the constant stupid meddling with the rules that we have now. There is no particularly good reason why the goalkeeper should have to take the kickout from the ground, it only slows down the game. As for the ball, it's served us fine as it is and I see no reason to mess with it.

aDeener

i dont like all this messing and altering the game at all. the ball is 100% the way it is.

Pride Fighter

Frank Spencer wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that most keepers would get more distance off the tee than out of their hands. There would definitely be better accuracy off the tee

Maybe I'm wrong.

I'd agree regarding accuracy but a punt would gain much more distance. A kick off from the tee is a low-ish trajectory, medium distance kick of about 55 meters. A punt would be a high trajectory, long distance kick of about 75 meters. As a poster above pointed out it would have the benefit of speeding the game along. Less accuracy, as you can almost pass from the tee, Cluxton is great at this. But with punts you'd see more high fielding, a brilliant art that is almost dying with the proliferation of hand passes and the retirement of Darragh O'Se.

oneillMan999

tremendouus idea, and it dosent hav to be as light as a soccer ball, just a little lighter wud make a huge difference, im friends with a person very high up in the GAA, ill pass this idea on to see what he thinks..

An Citeog

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I'd agree regarding accuracy but a punt would gain much more distance. A kick off from the tee is a low-ish trajectory, medium distance kick of about 55 meters. A punt would be a high trajectory, long distance kick of about 75 meters. As a poster above pointed out it would have the benefit of speeding the game along. Less accuracy, as you can almost pass from the tee, Cluxton is great at this. But with punts you'd see more high fielding, a brilliant art that is almost dying with the proliferation of hand passes and the retirement of Darragh O'Se.

A 75 metre punt?:eek: That'd be fairly close to an average puck-out. Don't think you'd see any keepers just hoofing the ball up into the air and hoping for the best either.

mattock

Maybe paint it Green White and Gold

aDeener

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I'd agree regarding accuracy but a punt would gain much more distance. A kick off from the tee is a low-ish trajectory, medium distance kick of about 55 meters. A punt would be a high trajectory, long distance kick of about 75 meters. As a poster above pointed out it would have the benefit of speeding the game along. Less accuracy, as you can almost pass from the tee, Cluxton is great at this. But with punts you'd see more high fielding, a brilliant art that is almost dying with the proliferation of hand passes and the retirement of Darragh O'Se.

that is a myth brought about by those with misty eyes such as spillane et al. the 2 louth midfielders, keenan and white are superb in the air, donaghy - obviously, i come across fantastic picture of dowd from longford against mayo:

http://www.longfordleader.ie/sport/Superb-Longford-send-Mayo-crashing.6388344.jp

and they are but a few examples. oh how could i forget the highlight of the armagh, donegal match. swifts breathtaking catch not far from the end - spectacular: not the picture from that game but another one showing his aerial prowess http://www.sportsfile.com/id/414352/

rebel girl 15

Lex Luthor wrote: »

I think the outer surface of the ball definately needs to be looked at. In the rain, they are like bars of soap and I've seen it spoil games with the ball constantly slipping out of the players hands

The O Neills balls are a disaster tbh - even when dry the surface can be very polished and it can slip out as well.

aDeener

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

The O Neills balls are a disaster tbh - even when dry the surface can be very polished and it can slip out as well.

thats more to do with your handling skills than the ball itself methinks a bit of spit into the hands and you will have serious grip

rebel girl 15

aDeener wrote: »

thats more to do with your handling skills than the ball itself methinks a bit of spit into the hands and you will have serious grip

I've to soak the palms of my gloves before I get any decent grip, I'm a goalkeeper!

An Citeog

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

I've to soak the palms of my gloves before I get any decent grip, I'm a goalkeeper!

What kind of gloves are you using?

Pappy o' daniel

Im not saying we should just swop it for a soccer ball, but make alterations of the existing ball. The ball is the most important part to any game, and I think there should be at least some review of it.

Danno

Babs is looking to have the sliothar made heavier again in his latest rant.

megadodge

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I'd agree regarding accuracy but a punt would gain much more distance. A kick off from the tee is a low-ish trajectory, medium distance kick of about 55 meters. A punt would be a high trajectory, long distance kick of about 75 meters. As a poster above pointed out it would have the benefit of speeding the game along. Less accuracy, as you can almost pass from the tee, Cluxton is great at this. But with punts you'd see more high fielding, a brilliant art that is almost dying with the proliferation of hand passes and the retirement of Darragh O'Se.

I completely disagree.

Firstly, the kick out from the hands has been tried out before (c. 1990 league) and it completely eliminated all high fielding at midfield, mainly because all the kickouts were quick and short. That's the very reason the kickout from the ground was quickly reinstated.

Secondly, the actual trajectory from a ball kicked from the ground lends itself to high fielding as the ball 'floats' perfectly to allow a well timed running jump, whereas the punt comes down much faster and 'heavier' making it much harder to catch.

As i said, this has all been experimented with before and the lack of high fielding was the reason it wasn't retained.

guybague

No need to change.

magicface1

not a hope in hell. why would ya want to change it.

aidan24326

aidan24326 wrote: »

Absolutely not. The ball is fine as it is.

So true and heavier ball means better accuracy. the wides would be cruel with a lighter ball