ALL STAR goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy has questioned the wisdom of tampering
By Cliona Foley
Tuesday December 08 2009
ALL STAR goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy has questioned the wisdom of tampering with the square ball rule as the GAA prepare to officially release the latest batch of experimental rules.
The new rules will be trialled in the 2010 National Leagues and voted on at next year's Congress.
They include a controversial proposal that attackers will now be allowed to enter the square before the ball, unless it comes in from a dead ball (a free, sideline ball or '45')."
Long term, you could end up with teams just standing big 6'4"-plus men directly in front of the 'keepers and repeatedly driving balls into them," said the Kerry star."
Obviously you'd have to see it in operation to see how things develop but you could end up with badly crowded goalmouths like you had back in the '50s.
You'd wonder if it's really just to suit referees because they obviously have difficulty judging square balls at the moment."
Another key proposal is to bring penalties two metres closer to the goals, obviously to improve the markedly low conversion rate.
Murphy made one of the most valuable penalty saves of 2009 when he parried one from Dave Kelly of Sligo in round three of the qualifiers, a pivotal moment in Kerry's summer.
But he is not unduly bothered about the proposal to move the spot-kicks forward from the 13m line to 11m."
Moving penalties closer is obviously designed to help the attacker and bad news for us goalies," he said. "
But perhaps they're also hoping that it would be more of a deterrent to defenders now not to concede them."
One change that Murphy believes has the potential to back-fire is the mooted 'mark' from kick-outs."
It's obviously designed to reward good fielding in centre field but I think the reality already is that referees tend to give the benefit of the doubt to players who make big catches and already give them frees," he noted."
Also, while there is a lot of ball broken down there at the moment, if you reward high fielding it might actually make midfield an even bigger target for teams who are concentrating on breaking ball."
After agreeing the experimental rules at Central Council last weekend, the GAA is expected to release their exact details in the coming days but most have already leaked out.
An Aussie Rules-style 'mark' for catching a kick-out between the two 45m lines and the square ball change are two of the most significant.
They also include an experiment that full-time will not be blown until the ball crosses a boundary line and goes dead, a la rugby union.
Suggestions like getting rid of the 'lift' in football, or rewarding goals or scores from outside the 45m line with extra points, did not make the final cut.
One sensible change in hurling is to the rule governing puck-outs.
Previously, if a goalkeeper stepped outside the square while taking a puck-out the opposing team got a '65' -- a punishment which has long been regarded as disproportionate.
Under the experimental rules, this will now result in a throw-in at the 20m line.
- Cliona Foley Irish Independent
Tuesday December 08 2009
ALL STAR goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy has questioned the wisdom of tampering with the square ball rule as the GAA prepare to officially release the latest batch of experimental rules.
The new rules will be trialled in the 2010 National Leagues and voted on at next year's Congress.
They include a controversial proposal that attackers will now be allowed to enter the square before the ball, unless it comes in from a dead ball (a free, sideline ball or '45')."
Long term, you could end up with teams just standing big 6'4"-plus men directly in front of the 'keepers and repeatedly driving balls into them," said the Kerry star."
Obviously you'd have to see it in operation to see how things develop but you could end up with badly crowded goalmouths like you had back in the '50s.
You'd wonder if it's really just to suit referees because they obviously have difficulty judging square balls at the moment."
Another key proposal is to bring penalties two metres closer to the goals, obviously to improve the markedly low conversion rate.
Murphy made one of the most valuable penalty saves of 2009 when he parried one from Dave Kelly of Sligo in round three of the qualifiers, a pivotal moment in Kerry's summer.
But he is not unduly bothered about the proposal to move the spot-kicks forward from the 13m line to 11m."
Moving penalties closer is obviously designed to help the attacker and bad news for us goalies," he said. "
But perhaps they're also hoping that it would be more of a deterrent to defenders now not to concede them."
One change that Murphy believes has the potential to back-fire is the mooted 'mark' from kick-outs."
It's obviously designed to reward good fielding in centre field but I think the reality already is that referees tend to give the benefit of the doubt to players who make big catches and already give them frees," he noted."
Also, while there is a lot of ball broken down there at the moment, if you reward high fielding it might actually make midfield an even bigger target for teams who are concentrating on breaking ball."
After agreeing the experimental rules at Central Council last weekend, the GAA is expected to release their exact details in the coming days but most have already leaked out.
An Aussie Rules-style 'mark' for catching a kick-out between the two 45m lines and the square ball change are two of the most significant.
They also include an experiment that full-time will not be blown until the ball crosses a boundary line and goes dead, a la rugby union.
Suggestions like getting rid of the 'lift' in football, or rewarding goals or scores from outside the 45m line with extra points, did not make the final cut.
One sensible change in hurling is to the rule governing puck-outs.
Previously, if a goalkeeper stepped outside the square while taking a puck-out the opposing team got a '65' -- a punishment which has long been regarded as disproportionate.
Under the experimental rules, this will now result in a throw-in at the 20m line.
- Cliona Foley Irish Independent
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