ANTRIM senior football manager Andy McEntee believes the new rules in Gaelic football will only multiply human error and fears the club scene won’t survive the Football Review Committee’s shock treatment in its current guise.
McEntee understood the need for some tweaks to the game – but feels the FRC has gone too far with some of their rule changes.
The Meath native, now in his third year with Antrim, sees problems with the implementation of the 50-metre advancement rule for delaying restarts for fouls as well as the 12 versus 11 attacking scenario that will undoubtedly unfold in Gaelic football, a consequence of teams having to permanently keep three players in the opposition’s half of the field.
The FRC decided to drop the four points for a goal rule but retained the new two-point rule from outside the new 40m arc.
If the FRC was going to change the scoring system, McEntee insists, they should have kept the four points for a goal.
“The reason why they ditched the four-point scoring system was because they feared a lot of hammerings would take place, but there are going to hammerings anyway,” McEntee said.
“People will see for themselves, Gaelic football will become more and more like basketball.
“It’ll be a case of you get into the opposition half of the field and now the goalkeeper can come up and join you, and all of a sudden you have 12 versus 11.
“First, you get it out of your own half, hold onto it and wait on your goalkeeper. Then you have an overlap.
“There isn’t a sport in the world that says you’re allowed to have more players attacking than defending.”
McEntee speculates too that there will be less goals in 2025. Teams will weigh up the “risk and reward” especially with two points on offer from a 40m kick.
“If you can score two from outside the 40m arc and a goal is only worth three, why would you go for goal?”
Emanating from seven rules changes, McEntee estimates that there could be up to 50 in-rule scenarios – or unintended consequences - and was mystified by some interpretations of the pass to the goalkeeper in their challenge game with Louth at Dunsilly last weekend.
“There is going to be more human error with these new rules.”
A player is only allowed to pass to his goalkeeper if both are in the large rectangle. Every other pass to the ‘keeper is outlawed until the netminder moves into the opposition half of the field.
“There was confusion over a couple of things in the Louth game,” McEntee said.
“Referees are the ones going to be in the firing line...
“For the Louth game we had four mic’d up umpires and two mic’d up linesmen and the ref and there were still errors made and confusion, and there’s going to be confusion – and that goes back to the folly of having no pre-season competitions.
“For instance, there’s a contest for a ball just outside our big square, the full-back goes to contest it, the ball breaks inside the big square and because the full-back has got his hands to it, strictly speaking, that’s a free in because he’s played it back to the ‘keeper.
“He hasn’t passed it back but he’s played it back to the ‘keeper – he’s the last fella to touch it, he tried to catch it, didn’t catch it, played it back to the ‘keeper. Referees are looking for a lot of clarification and it’s not forthcoming.”
In a bid to try and clean up the delay of frees being taken in games where players don’t retreat or obstruct the kicker, McEntee feels the FRC hasn’t found the punishment to fit the crime.
“If I foul you and I end up with the ball, I have to hand you the ball and get out of your way. If I foul you and put the ball on the ground or throw the ball to you, the opposition can advance 50 metres.”
Asked to crystal ball-gaze a year down from now, McEntee replied: “I can’t answer that, I genuinely can’t answer that. But I can’t see how club football can survive these rules because you can’t have one set of rules for inter-county and another set for club.”
