Has the dream team been established to save Gaelic football? New GAA president Jarlath Burns has established the Jim Gavin-led Football Review Committee and it features Malachy O’Rourke, Eamonn Fitzmaurice, Colm Collins, Colm Nally and James Horan. The men have been given the unenviable task of trying to implement rules changes to improve gaelic football.
We would all agree that the sport is not the visual spectacle it was fifteen years ago. But finding a solution to the game's woes is no small task, or else it would have been found by now.
Speaking on Allianz League Sunday, Fitzmaurice talked about what he would like to see the game played but is also aware that it is a huge balancing act if they want to bring in rules that can be sustainable for both club and intercounty.
'The big thing is, what are the things we want to avoid' - Eamonn Fitzmaurice, a member of the new Football Review Committee, discusses the issues that will be teased out, touching on some rule changes which could be examined
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“There is a big volume of work ahead,” Fitzmaurice said
“The big thing is what the things we want to avoid are, and that’s different for everyone. For me personally, when teams put 15 players behind the 45, they have limited attacking ability.
“For me, that is the cause that sometimes leads to possession-based football, which isn’t the most attractive thing in the world. I like contest collisions and that kind of thing, which takes it out of the game.
“Now, someone argued during the week about what happens when a very strong team plays a fragile team.
“That’s not going to help that; how are you going to referee at club level? There's a lot to be considered, for example, two points for a long-range point, not going backcourt shot clocks, and there are loads of different proposals. We haven’t even met yet, and I've got a lot, so we will see where it goes.”
Flynn believes small changes are only needed.
Former All-Ireland winner with Dublin Paul Flynn believes that the right men are involved in the committee but also thinks that small marginal changes are only needed and that the game doesn’t need to change drastically.
“Everyone has a passion for it and such an opinion on this; all they want is the best outcome for the game. I don’t think we need a wholesome amount of changes; we need little tweaks. We have a fantastic group assembled; no stone will be left unturned,” Flynn said.
“The key thing for me is that they stay together as a group and over a long period of time, even if it's only the three years we have Jarlath is sitting as president, that we have people monitoring these rules, and it shouldn’t be the case that we have to wait every five years for a rule change if there's a tweak needed even just every couple of years rather than going for wholesome changes little tweaks now and then so we can improve our game.”
