It was another weekend of hectic action and another weekend of communication troubles for the FRC in the third round of the Allianz Football Leagues.
While Dublin's late comeback in Tralee showed glimpses of the potential excitement these new rules could deliver, clear communication issues once again had the FRC under fire and on the defensive - this time over a tweak made to how long goalkeepers were allowed take for a kick out.
Just three weeks ago the Jim Gavin-led rules committee were criticised by many including Joanne Cantwell over the distribution of rules books ahead of the league start, with Cantwell claiming that no official rule book had been offered to them. While with Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney had similar complaints, revealing that mixed messaging was being issued on the new rules.
Those complaints were then loudly echoed by one of the sport's most prolific referees David Gough, who revealed that referees preparing for the second round of the campaign were still without a rule book.
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Peter Canavan issues defence of FRC after more rules confusion.
Just as they did in the opening two weeks of action, those communication issues have continued to reign supreme for Jim Gavin's committee, with FRC member Peter Canavan receiving a grilling from Joanne Cantwell about the lack of notice given to inter-county managers about a tweak to the rules which required goalkeepers to complete their kick outs in twenty seconds.
Discussing the issues on Allianz League Sunday, Cantwell didn't mince her words when she put it to Canavan that communication was a significant issue for the FRC.
We also had new guidelines given to referees this week in relation to kickouts that goalkeepers only have twenty seconds, we have contacted four different management teams from across three divisions, none of them received any official communication regarding those tweaks. There are clearly some issues, but is communication one of the top ones?
While Canavan acknowledged the issues put to him by Cantwell, the Tyrone man didn't take the criticisms lying down, saying it wasn't the responsibility of the FRC to communicate those changes to management.
I accept there's communication issues, and a number of obstacles...but there was a meeting that took place with the referees panel last week, the FRC met the referees panel and there was a debate on the length of time it was taking goalkeepers to kick the ball out. There was a consensus with the FRC and the referees panel that there should be in and around twenty seconds (for kickouts)
As far as I'm aware that guideline was issued by the head of the referees Donal Smith to the referees, so the referees were aware of that, but I don't think the inter county managers or players were aware of that.
I don't believe that it's Jim Gavin or the FRC's (job to communicate that), it's not Donal Smyth's job as the head of the referees, I don't believe to contact inter-county managers after he issues guidance to the referees.
Likewise, if he issues guidelines to the referees I don't think it's up to Jim Gavin to follow up on the guidance to get in touch, so there's a wider issue here for games administration to look into.
Cantwell also put Canavan on the spot about an incident in Meath's clash with Down where the Royal County were wrongly awarded a two-pointer instead of one due to a mistake from the officials who are facing the difficult task of implementing the slew of new rules - with Canavan's claims that referees' feedback was 'by-in-large positive' leading to quite the interaction between the pair.
Cantwell: You really are a fully fledged FRC member Peter.
Canavan: You need to speak to more inter-county referees Joanne.
Cantwell: I've spoken to a few Peter.
“That’s not going to be accepted…” - Cora Staunton feels that there will be further scrutiny on rules implementation after Meath gained an extra point when Ronan Jones was award a two-pointer when he was clearly inside the arc. pic.twitter.com/BGAHKANywF
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) February 16, 2025
In fairness to Canavan who has only been recently appointed to the committee, he didn't shy away from the issues raised, but ultimately plenty of questions still loom large.
This couldn't have been more evident than when the RTÉ host pointed out that technically under the new rules Aidan Forker's red-card headbutt of Michael Murphy in Donegal's win over Armagh should've resulted in a throw-up not a free.
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