'We have to look at these new rules with a glass-half-full approach' - McGonigle

The new seven-rule enhancements may not have been enticing enough to sell out Croke Park last weekend but they seem to be a topic that every Gaelic football fan has an opinion on.   

Donegal legend Michael Murphy admitted that it’s going to be an area where all stakeholders have a say and not all are going to agree with, and that ranges from the armchair supporter to the underage coach, to the senior coach, to the players, to the media.   

The debate seems to be animated and proactive, but the new version of the game is something that nobody can fully predict will work until more time has passed and more games are played.   

The bright lights and comfortable playing surface of Croke Park make it slightly easier to see the new rules play out in all their glory, but is it something that can work on the wettest fields, in the windiest conditions, on a winter's night?   

 Controlling GAA matches at all levels has no doubt been a challenge for referees at all levels over the years. Rules have come in to help the game through the years, with some being widely accepted, while others have been hampered, but all with the idea of trying to fix a game that has, in recent seasons become the GAA’s problem child.   

Players and coaches, of course, will have to be given time to adapt to the new rules set out by the Football Review Committee, the same will have to go to match officials to see how they can handle the extra burden and how consistently they can apply the new rules.   

Some will have an opinion that it will be too much for referees to handle, but long-serving Donegal official Seamus McGonigle believes the rules are needed to fix the game, and everyone must go into this new craze with a glass-half-full approach.    

“I thought the games were really enjoyable last weekend, even though there was no real bite to them,” McGonigle said.

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“I think it’s too early to give a definitive opinion on whether these rules will work or not until we see which ones stay and which ones don’t, but from what I saw at the weekend, I would be very positive going forward with the rules.”   

With the public being exposed to the FRC’s new creation of football, what happens next is the idea will be brought to Central Council for a green light on the enhancements this weekend before it looks to be passed by Special Congress in November.   

While it is unknown if all the rules will make it to the winter months, McGonigle feels that several new rules can change the game for the better.   

Not all will be easy to control, but it’s something he feels that officials will just have to adapt to and accept.   

“I think you have to be optimistic about change in the game because it needed change,” the Aodh Ruadh referee said. “I think the 3V3 being left inside a half is an excellent idea because it makes the game more exciting.   

“It might be one of the harder rules to police as a referee, especially at club level where there isn’t as much help, but still it’s something that needed to be brought in and will definitely make the game better.   

“Even the tap-and-go, that too will have a huge change in the game and outcomes in games. It will also stop dissent which is something that the GAA needed to tackle.    

“We saw last weekend when a player was fouled and the whistle was blown, you could see the players hand the ball to the referee to move forward for dissent, and that’s a really positive change moving forward.”   

There is the idea that some rules will be hard to call and will come simply down to fine and controversial margins on the biggest days of all.   

How can the referee constantly control 3V3 in one half? Was the player inside or outside the large two-point arc when the ball was kicked? Small margins that could swing a game.   

But McGonigle feels it is something that should be an issue and sounds harder to referee rather than it will be.   

“I remember when the ‘mark’ inside the 45-metre line came in, I always thought that was going to be difficult to call for a referee to see was he inside or outside the 45 when the ball was kicked to call a ‘mark’,” he said.    

“But it never became an issue and it is fairly easy to watch out for, so, I don’t think the arc for a two-point kick will be an issue either.   

“I’m not sure about other counties, but nearly all the pitches in Donegal are top quality pitches and will no doubt be lined properly.”   

So, what is the future of these new rules? McGonigle believes it will be hard to see all seven enhancements surviving, but at least it’s something aiming to stop the future of Gaelic football from falling towards a crisis.   

“It’s very hard to see all the rules coming in and being passed, but I would be very positive about the future of the game,” McGonigle stated. “The game needed a change and had to move away from defensive-style football.   

“So, yeah, there are a lot of changes at the moment but the GAA had to accept change before and we all had to get used to it. I remember when the black card rule came in, people were saying that referees would never get the hang of it, but we did, and it was a great innovation because at that time deliberate fouling was a plague in the game.   

“The way I look at it is, any new rules that are coming into the game, they’re coming in and we all have to adapt to them.”