Shortly before the lights were turned out at the GAA's Special Congress on Saturday - on a day which was mainly about hurling - a motion was passed which will cause reverberations in Gaelic football.
The motion: that all kick-outs in football should have to travel beyond the 20m line. It was passed without much fuss - 82% of delegates voted in favour.
Only one county stood up to debate its introduction. Unsurprisingly, that was Dublin. The new rule will, in particular, affect Stephen Cluxton. It would not be a surprise to hear it referred to as the 'Cluxton Rule'. The days of seeing the Dublin captain - and many other keepers - kick the ball laterally to a corner-back are gone.
Speaking to Off The Ball's Oisin Langan after congress, Jarlath Burns explained the thinking behind the motion. Burns is the chairman of the GAA's Standing Rules Committee which proposed the motion.
In 2010, we changed the rule that all kick-outs are taken on the 30m line. As a result of that, there is significant space to the left and behind. That was happening quite a bit in games, it was an emerging trend. It's just a very low-risk kick-out; you kick it to the left and then you're slowly building methodically the whole way and it's not a very good spectacle, it's not the positive, aggressive game that we want it to be.
Really what we're trying to do is make it slightly discouraging for a goalkeeper and slightly more of a risk to take a short kick-out in case it doesn't reach the 20m line and to encourage him to go long.
Burns also suggested that though the new rule may affect Dublin, the county's footballers will continue to innovate.
Incredible credit is deserved by Stephen Cluxton for the way he has revolutionised the game from the kick-out. We have absolutely no desire to change that. We have great respect and admiration for Stephen Cluxton. Dublin will innovate yet again to make their kick-outs interesting and make them relevant.
At the end of the day, every team wants to maintain possession from the kick-out. This motion doesn't seek to change it, we just want to make the short kick-out slightly longer.
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
