The proposal is that the ball must additionally travel “outside the 20 metre line” before being played by another player of the defending team.
the GAA Special Congress in Croke Park last year approved a motion that introduced the 20m kick-out. At the time, the Dublin delegate, Mick Seavers, argued it was a rule change designed to punish certain teams:
We are punishing the team that wants to innovate and rewarding the teams who want to play negatively. This rewards the people that can't play ball properly.
It seems he is not the only man to hold this view. Writing in the Sunday World, Pat Spillane offered a similar argument.
Spillane starts by praising the GAA for avoiding declining like the Catholic Church and Fianna Fáil, mainly due to their willingness to embrace change.
Being a tad cynical, I cannot help but think that this rule change was introduced in an attempt to curb the influence of Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton.
Spillane compares it to the great Kerry team of 1978 that won four-in-a-row.
Remember, back in the early 1980s the GAA outlawed handpassed goals and made other changes to the rules in an effort to put the brakes on Kerry's dominance of the All-Ireland championship. The change didn't stop Kerry from winning more All-Ireland titles and I don't see how the new rule will reduce Cluxton's influence. The simple fact is that great teams and great players can adapt.
However, he seems to agree with the rule as he suggests they should have gone all out and ensured the kick-out goes beyond the 45'.
If a ball does not go beyond the 20m the ball will be stopped and the ref will throw it in. This obviously effects Cluxton who so cleverly deployed fast kick-outs to each corner-back in order to catch teams out.
It means he will have to adapt his tactic next year, although that shouldn't be that much a problem as his long-range passing is pretty impressive too.
You can read Spillane's thoughts in full and his view on the other rule changes in today's Sunday World.
