"Advantage Rule"

kodmuffin

I was wondering if people (particularly the ref's out there) can provide any clarification on this-and let me know what your thoughts are

It drives me mad to see a player running through, clearly being fouled, the ref lifts out their arm in an either advantage/play on style- a few seconds later the player stumbles as they are being fouled and the opposition wins back the ball-it has happened alot of times during this year's championship in both football and hurling-surely in these situations a free would be better for the team- i know it is probably an effort to keep the game flowing but at the end of the day the team with the most scores wins!!!

I know up until recently enough there was no such thing as an advantage rule in GAA, but i vaguely remember hearing about a rule coming in a year or two ago-does anyone have any thoughts on this?

DH2K9

kodmuffin wrote: »

I was wondering if people (particularly the ref's out there) can provide any clarification on this-and let me know what your thoughts are

It drives me mad to see a player running through, clearly being fouled, the ref lifts out their arm in an either advantage/play on style- a few seconds later the player stumbles as they are being fouled and the opposition wins back the ball-it has happened alot of times during this year's championship in both football and hurling-surely in these situations a free would be better for the team- i know it is probably an effort to keep the game flowing but at the end of the day the team with the most scores wins!!!

I know up until recently enough there was no such thing as an advantage rule in GAA, but i vaguely remember hearing about a rule coming in a year or two ago-does anyone have any thoughts on this?

No there isn't an advantage rule as such. The ref can let the game go on by putting his hand out but once he does that he can't bring it back for the original foul. The only time he can is if another foul occurs after.

If the ref blows up for the free he gets abuse for not playing advantage and if plays advantage and h they lose the ball he gets abused for not awarding the free.

A simple rule change allowing refs to do what their soccer counterparts do and play advantage for a few seconds but with the knowledge that they can bring it back for the original foul would save a lot of hassle.

Dangerous Man

True. There should be an advantage rule similar to that in soccer. In the final last Sunday, a Dublin player was making a run through midfield and fouled twice by two Kerry defenders. Now, the fouls weren't strong enough to knock him over or dispossess him but they knocked him off his stride and he did lose the ball to a Kerry player. He seemed to fall over and played the ball on the ground with his hand - free to Kerry. And, rightly so, according to the rules. The ref can't pull it back and the Dublin player (I'm sorry I can't remember who the players were at this point) had no intention of stopping.

However it does seem a little unfair and it happens all the time that an attacking player receives niggling fouls, loses possession, fouls in return, and concedes the free. A basic, clearly defined advantage system would work very well in GAA.

There is one problem though. Take a look at other sports where the advantage system is used - soccer, rugby, hockey.

In all three, to varying degrees, the chances of scoring any sort of score, are lower than they are in GAA. For example - when the ball is in play in rugby, and a team has advantage they can only score either by a try or by a dropgoal. The advantage is given only as long as they don't take advantage of it - i.e. they don't improve their field position or actually score. As soon as either happens - advantage over.

It's similar in soccer although there the advantage rule seems to have more to do with a few seconds of time elapsing more than anything else (in fact I think the advantage rule in soccer is not fit for purpose.) In hockey - the advantage is as advantageous as it gets; as soon as the opposing team touches the puck the play is stopped and the penalty awarded. This allows the team with the puck to pull their goalie and put on another attacker.

I think the system used in soccer would suit GAA much better as it's so much easier to score in GAA. The principle should be to punish the offending team, while allowing the attacking team to continue play without the unfairly losing the opportunity to score. However, the rule shouldn't be interpreted as a 'two shots' rule whereby the attacking team can just shoot from anywhere and expect the ball back immediately after.

lovelypoint

I think the rugby implementation of the advantage rule is the way to go. Let the ref acknowledge the foul, let play run on, and if the subsequent play comes to nothing then the attacking team can go back and claim the free (or penalty in rugby) that caused the ref to play advantage in the first place. Great rule, and means play is not killed dead by whistle-happy refs, nor are the attacking team penalised if the advantage played comes to nothing.

AGC

Dangerous Man wrote: »

True. There should be an advantage rule similar to that in soccer. In the final last Sunday, a Dublin player was making a run through midfield and fouled twice by two Kerry defenders. Now, the fouls weren't strong enough to knock him over or dispossess him but they knocked him off his stride and he did lose the ball to a Kerry player. He seemed to fall over and played the ball on the ground with his hand - free to Kerry. And, rightly so, according to the rules. The ref can't pull it back and the Dublin player (I'm sorry I can't remember who the players were at this point) had no intention of stopping.

It was Connolly.

That was 1 of many in the All Ireland that if the ref blew for the original foul he could have stopped a lot of silly decisions.

Magi11

As has been stated there is no advantage rule in GAA that is similar to soccer or Rugby and judging by the seminars I've gone to, the powers that be are not fans of refs even playing the advantage rule that does exist.