The same lads giving out about injuries are the same guys suggesting there should be more games in hurling- open draw after provincial seedings.
I am not doctrinaire on âsplit seasonâ question from either perspective. But I am a bit confused about this criticism. Is it not obviously the case that many top players went on âlong club runsâ pre 2022? And that such runs were even longer when the Senior Club All Ireland Finals were held on March 17?
I do not want to get into the whole overall âsplit seasonâ topic â because the topic is a labyrinth â but nevertheless cannot see how the âlong club runsâ difficulty was not always a factor (and will always be a factor, for that matter).
1 Like
There were way less games in the pre-split season era is the first thing.
Inter County Championship games were generally played at 3 week intervals which gave amateur players time to recover properly and build back up again for the next one.
County players who went on a Club run generally got the full month of December off to rest/recover and didnât have to play any National League games.
Now they are expected to do it all.
Okay. Fair points. I understand your critique better now.
I am not a fan â at all â of round robin structure, which is the split seasonâs twin.
2 Likes
To justify the split season, theyâve had to squash in as many games as possible with round robins the obvious answer - otherwise (if there were 3-4 week windows between games), there would be justifiable calls for players to be released back to there clubs for a game here and there⌠Which is not what the Inter County Managers want to hearâŚ
Well⌠We only have the round robins â which came first â because of a gross overreaction to footballâs introduction of a Super Eights aspect. 62% voted for round robins at Congress. Had 59% voted that way, the motion would have failed.
Hurling people are going down the same road of overreaction due to this summerâs football. I despair.
2 Likes
Coaches flogging the fuck out of well established players in January and lads blaming the split season.You couldnât make it up
7 Likes
Jack OâConnor covering up hes own failings last Sunday.
1 Like
You are 100% correct on that last point.
One thing the Football lads have got right is the clampdown on steps - which was not a rule change - but a reinforcement of an existing one.
âRed lightsâ are now flashing when a footballer tries to take the ball into contact and âbreak a tackleâ for fear of being done for overcarrying or being legitimately turned over.
Hurling hasnât copped on to this yet as steps are not enforced and even if things go awry for the man âbreaking the tackleâ, he still has the âthrowâ pop pass up his sleeve which he knows is highly unlikely to be penalised either.
So we are left with a Rubby League style game.
Clampdown on steps and throws and Hurling will be fine - but what weâll end up with is âthree up rulesâ and special zones on puckouts which will make a mess of the whole thing.
The Soccer World Cup Final was as bad a game as youâll see, yet nobody is calling for rule changes there on the back of it.
2 Likes
Hurling is nearly at the stage where it should ban the handpass entirely.
A lot more feasible to do it in hurling than in Gaelic football, especially with the shovels players now use.
36 years ago Mick OâDwyer went on the Sunday Game highlights programme after Cork beat Meath and said thst Gaelic football needed an AFL style tackle.
I used to poo poo that idea but Iâm not sure if wouldnât have solved some of the issues that these new Brexit rules were brought in to solve but didnât.
Itâs a huge problem in hurling. Plenty of players have it down to a fine art, a recently retired hurler springing to mind who was a real master at over carrying as he took the ball into contact and invariably always emerging with a soft free.
I have been making this case for several years at this stage. Eliminating the handpass would rewire hurling â and much for the better.
2 Likes
Defenders often have no choice but to foul an attacker because they know thereâs no chance of the attacker being done for steps.
The only time âstepsâ is called in a hurling match is when a player looks hesitant or not sure what heâs doing and the crowd get on his back.
Shane OâBrien in the All Ireland Semi Final this year was a classic of this genre.
1 Like
There is no handpass,its a throw at this stage.Then you get to take 15 steps if your being âtackledâ.If they enforced the rules that are there youd cut out a lot of this shite but referees are afraid of the backlash theyd get for the public if they did.
4 Likes
Why referees wait until a game is in the melting pot to suddenly blow for a throw boils my piss.
Referees should blow everything that looks like a throw early and often. 98.76% of players will adjust fairly lively.
Steps⌠again, refs donât seem to count them once contact is made by the opposition. Itâs clear referees need more help⌠thereâs no room for two referees in a game, each has their own style, but thereâs scope for 4 linesman who have a much greater chance of being right up level with play.
2 Likes
The shinty International Rules series gave us a taste of what it might be like, though not exactly because youâd still be allowed catch the ball.
It might bring back a bit of pulling and weâd see more Brick Walsh style one handed passing off the stick.
It would certainly demand higher skill levels.
1 Like
Could not agree more with this post.
The âpopâ pass when in contact is the cardinal point here. Eliminate the possibility of a handpass/throw and much of the contact-orientated stuff will melt away â as a poor percentage bet.
Players are pragmatists, because they want to win. They will almost immediately cease doing what becomes a poor percentage bet. As you sketch, going into contact at the moment remains a high percentage bet for the man in possession.
Great post overall. Fair play.
1 Like
Football used to be considered an impossible sport to referee, we have just gone through a season where there has been hardly a handful of debatable decisions. Telling referees to clamp down on steps and throws wonât work as it is no easy task and there would be even more inconsistency - who is that lunatic coach who claims that intercounty players are so skillful they never throw the ball they just do the handpass so quickly it canât be spotted by the naked eye?
The easiest rule change to help referees, and which I think would also improve the game, is a player is only allowed catch the ball once instead of twice. And bouncing it off the ground doesnât reset things either, pitches are so good now there is minimal skill in that.
1 Like
Shinty is a terrific case in point. I used be delightedly amazed at the skill levels displayed by lads like Offalyâs Joe Bergin when the ball could not be taken to hand bar in a fetch.
2 Likes
I disagree with you on Football - teams are being screwed every second week since the new rules came in either directly via the new rules, or referees forgetting about old ones. Yet everyone just shrugs their shoulders and says, âshur wasnt that a good gameâ.
Like Dublin v Kerry the other week was as big a screwing as youâd see. Or St. Finbarrâs in the Munster Club⌠Or Sallins missing out on probably their only ever shot at playing in Croke Park.
Even Brigidâs in the All Ireland Club Final were blackguarded out of a late free to seal the win.
And on Sunday, while it didnât impact the result, it was infuriating how many âdouble hopsâ were missed.
Iâd put a lot of it down to Referees having too much on their plates. Football would have been grand with the clampdown on steps, the solo and go, and no backpass to the keeper but the integrity of the game has been completely compromised instead.
1 Like