Biggest challenge to our game is the possession-based, risk averse mentality of elite coaches Donegal manager Jim McGuinness with Tyrone manager Mickey Harte employed tactics that were risk averse and ultra defensive. During the 30 years I spent working on The Sunday Game , a constant criticism levelled at me was that I was too negative. Yes, they were right, but does that mean I was wrong in being as critical as I was? Absolutely not.
The majority of games that I was watching were crap, and my views were sadly reflective of the dross in front of me. I was simply calling it as I saw it. It’s gas to think now that in those early years the GAA powers-that-be during their contract negotiations with RTÉ demanded my removal from the panel because I was deemed to be too critical.
Thankfully, RTÉ held firm. Isn’t it hilarious that in those days there was huge distrust between RTÉ and the GAA? Now we have an entirely changed tune. They paddle the same canoe with GAAGO.
Let’s be honest, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is, in all probability, a duck. If it is a bad match, it is just that – a bad match. I was never going to be a cheerleader for sport like the horse racing pundits are.
My modus operandi has always been to call something as I see it – warts and all. If you want to read fiction, you can buy Hans Christian Andersen. Sadly, from that infamous night on The Sunday Game when I branded parts of the Kerry-Tyrone game as ‘puke football’, football has gone downhill in the intervening 21 years.
I have highlighted why many times over the years. The tactical approach that Gaelic football coaches started using at that time was borrowed from Clive Woodward’s coaching mantra that won England the Rugby World Cup in 2003. It was simply called paralysis by analysis.
The focus was on studying the opposition’s strengths and star players and coming up with a plan that counteracted them. It was primarily all-out defending, defending, defending. And once England had secured possession, a conservative safety-first and risk-averse attacking play was applied.
It was about keeping the ball with the forwards and trying to win penalties and drop goals for Jonny Wilkinson to convert. Playing with freedom and flair? Passing along the lines? You must be joking – too high a risk. Sound familiar to GAA followers? Of course it does, for it was this game-plan that was enthusiastically adopted by Joe Kernan, Mickey Harte and Jimmy McGuinness.
It was sadly followed, modified and made worse by hundreds of supposedly modern innovative Gaelic football coaches over the years. Innovative my arse – it was all about parking the bus with 15 players in a crowded defence. And keeping possession at all costs.
And, yes, those detestable words which remind me of washing machines – reset and recycle. Sadly, the old saying holds true – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And, boy, in the world of Gaelic football coaching, the herd mentality dominates.
We act like sheep following one another. In recent years you will have noticed that not alone have bluffers, spoofers and snake-oil salesmen infiltrated the Gaelic football coaching scene, but they’ve also infiltrated the world of Gaelic football punditry. Where words like ‘intriguing’, ‘enthralling’ and ‘game of chess’ flourish.
Oh, I nearly forgot the stats and diagrams and arrows, all bullshit, bluffing and spoofing of the highest order. A case of, ‘If you can’t convince, confuse’. As you know for years it has felt at times that I have been fighting a lone battle against the way modern-day Gaelic football is going.
And yes I have heard all the ageist barbs, reminding me how the game has changed, calling me a dinosaur. How the game’s changes are down to natural evolution. I get that.
I am all for change and progress. But evolution must be for the betterment of the game and sadly I don’t see any of that with Gaelic football coaching. All I’ve been watching is our beautiful game being destroyed and turned into an ugly mongrel of a spectacle.
Thankfully, at last I am feeling vindicated that the GAA has suddenly come to the realisation that we’ve a problem. Their decision to appoint a high-profile football review committee under the stewardship of Jim Gavin was welcome news. Their remit, “to make Gaelic football the most enjoyable amateur game in the world to play and watch”, sets the bar high.
No pressure there then! We can only admire their lofty ambitions. We can only hope and pray that they have success. Because – whisper it – the game is on life support at the moment.
And that brings me to some of the reform proposals that were recently announced. To be perfectly honest, every proposal I heard had me nodding my head in agreement, thinking, ‘Brilliant, brilliant, bring them on’. What do I like best of the package? It is the one calling for three backs, three forwards being kept in one half of the field.
That will ensure more space and will encourage more kicking and get rid of the dreaded parking of 30 players in one half of the field. Increased points for scoring is a big plus too, two for a point outside 40 metres, four for a goal – all great. That will mean more shots, more risk-taking, more scores.
The solo-and-go free could be the game-changer (a player who is fouled has the option of continuing play). I feel it will keep the game flowing, reduce cynical play and the time defences have to set up their roadblocks. They are three big ones for me.
As for the others, the idea of the new advance mark operating only inside the 20m line is a no-brainer. It will encourage more kicking but also more man-to-man contests. Presently, it is a joke, rewarding someone for catching a chest-high ball that was kicked 20 metres – farcical.
On a side note, it shows me how stupid coaching is because it must be the easiest ‘gimme’ score. But coaches are not availing of the gift. Stats show that an average of just 1.
3 scores per game come from advanced marks and that just three are awarded per game. That shows how little thought goes into it. Some other proposals I also think are positive, like the one-on-one for the throw-in, a countdown clock (a no-brainer), and an overtime showdown to replace a penalty shootout where when a team scores the other team gets a chance to equalise – and if still a draw, the next score wins it.
I like it. People will ask: have I any proposals? I have three. The whole obsession about kickouts, I don’t get it.
It has become a huge focus of game analysis and coaching. But I just feel it’s a skill that doesn’t add anything to the game. Once the ball goes dead the goalie should be allowed kick it out of the hand.
That will keep the game flowing and won’t allow the opposition to set up. Less dead time, more ball-in-play time. Secondly, I would allow the pick-up straight off the ground.
I don’t think it is a skill that adds anything to the game and it actually contributes to more fouling. Thirdly, a shot clock. How often in championships in recent years are we watching long spells of the ball being tediously retained? I would introduce a shot clock of one minute.
We had almost six minutes of keep-ball from Roscommon, featuring 77 passes, against Dublin in Croke Park last year. In the All-Ireland final this year, the first kick at goal came from Paul Conroy after two minutes and nine seconds. This was after a long period of Galway possession which involved 37 passes, 32 by hand, and they went over and back until eventually Conroy shot over the bar.
People don’t want to watch long, dreary possession plays. Finally, I will go back to the original fundamentals of the game which relied for entertainment on the principles of catch and kick and man-on-man contests. We must return the game to something along those lines.
Uncontested kickouts are now averaging 75 per cent of all kickouts per game. Man-on-man contests are virtually extinct – in this year’s championship, we had 27 turnovers per game, the lowest since 2011. In this year’s All-Ireland final, there was no ball turned over in the opposition’s half.
We need to get back to man-on-man contests because we haven’t got them as things stand. But the big thing is that the game is called football for a reason – and the kicking has also gone out of the game. Since 2011 in the senior football championship, the amount of hand-passing has gone up by 45pc.
From 251 per game to 450 this year. And the average number of kick passes was just 131 per game this year. We need to bring the foot back into the game.
I welcome all these reform proposals. I am not going to give a final opinion until I see them tested and I look forward to seeing how they play out in the inter-provincial rules trial games in Croke Park on October 18 and 19. I will then deliver a more definitive opinion.
But my biggest fear is that while all these proposals are welcome, the real cause of the decline of Gaelic football remains the coaching and the culture that prevails; one that is too risk-averse, too safety-minded and overly fixated with keeping possession. Unless you can change the mindset, these boys will all try to find a way around new rules. The nuclear option is to restrict hand-passing and we may have to deploy it.
It may be a necessary if radical solution to rescue the game from its current crisis..
