The debate over 'the mark' is pitting purists against modernisers.
The purists want to put the dampeners on these runaway managers, those ruthlessly pragmatic tinpot autocrats whose callous indifference to the 'traditional skills' has rendered modern Gaelic football (supposedly) unwatchable for so many folk.
The modernisers nod their head wearily at the allegedly quixotic nature of the purists' ambitions. In the mod's view, the purists are trying to recover a lost paradise that never existed.
Ewan MacKenna and Eugene McGee spoke on the matter on Matt Cooper's the Last Word this evening. They had diametrically opposing views.
Ewan went out to bat for the modern game and suggested the problems with the sport lay off the field.
Once more, Congress provides the answer to a question no one asked. Why the constant need to tinker with the rules of Gaelic football? It has many problems with Gaelic football at the moment but they're all off-field issues, be it Dublin's cash, the championship structure, club treatment, player burnout.
Ewan wondered why high-fielding was being exalted above other skills in Gaelic football such as the block. More critically, he lamented the quality of analysis at decision-making level, which resulted in major rule changes being forced through on the back of anecdotal evidence.
There's the great GAA problem. Nothing is measured. Everything is based on anecdotal evidence and that shouldn't be how you change a rule. It should be empirical. Is high fielding even down, Matt? This is a problem in the GAA going back about 20 years in that there's these crusades to change rules based on a whim. Back in 1998, for example, Kildare's hand-passing was going to ruin the game. And Galway were seen as the purists and there was delight they won whereas Galway actually hand-passed the ball more in that final.
McGee presumably still bears the scars of the black card debate. In his response, he grumbled about the response to that rule change, lamenting the knee-jerk negativity of so many GAA fans. It was a touch reminiscent of Colm Parkinson's 'whingers' remarks.
Analysis is fine. We did a lot of analysis for the black card and we got the motion through and there's probably still people saying, 'that bloody black card! It was the worst thing that ever happened football. So, you can't please GAA people because they're always negativity-orientated.
Any man, including Ewan, who would claim that high catch in Gaelic football is not a pre-eminent skill, I don't know what world they're living in.
It is one of the few pre-eminent skills we have left. Proper foot-passing was the other one. And it's not because it's antiquated or because it was in vogue 50 years ago, or 30 years ago, or 20 years ago. It simply is one of the prime skills of Gaelic football and it's a shame to let it die out. It's dying out because managers have encouraged their players to break the ball and prevent the high catch. Now is breaking the ball down and then having a melee on the ground between four or five players, is that more attractive than watching wonderful high fielding by Darragh O'Sé or somebody?
Listen here:
