TYRONE’S Niall Morgan feels the new rule that proposes limiting passes to the goalkeeper is an assault on the creativity of modern Gaelic football and will make the number one role less attractive.
The 12-man Football Review Committee [FRC] presented rule changes, tweaks and innovations to the media earlier this week that it believes will enhance Gaelic football as a spectacle.
One of the more contentious rule proposals, however, impacts quite heavily on the current practices of the goalkeeper.
The FRC states: “A player may only pass the ball to their goalkeeper if both they and the goalkeeper are inside the large rectangle or if the goalkeeper has advanced beyond their own 65-yard line.
“The goalkeeper can still move up the field to challenge the opposition kick-out or attempt to intercept a pass from the opposition. This potential rule enhancement would cut down on back-passing to goalkeepers, incentivise teams to push up on opposition defenders, and create more contests for possession.”
The emergence of the fly-keeper has been one of the main innovations of Gaelic football in recent years with Niall Morgan, Rory Beggan, Ethan Rafferty and Odhran Lynch becoming roving playmakers in their respective teams.
The new rule, if passed at Special Congress on November 30, effectively would ‘cage’ goalkeepers as they would inevitably become less involved in open play.
Rather than deeming the natural evolution of the goalkeeping position in a positive light, the FRC has taken the alternative view and that there are currently too many back passes and lateral passes to the goalkeeper in their own half of the field.
Morgan, who has been one of the leading goalkeepers in Gaelic football for the last decade, fears the proposed rule change would effectively deskill the number one position and make it less attractive for young players.
“I’m speaking as a goalkeeper, when you’re taking a position and you’re making it less attractive for people to play – that’s where it becomes concerning,” said the Edendork clubman.
“You’ve got so many kids now saying they want to be a goalkeeper because they look at what you get to do. It’s going to go back to some who are deemed not good enough outfield. That’s the way goalkeeping started. I started as a goalkeeper because I couldn’t start outfield.”
Morgan argues that advancing goalkeepers have created “more jeopardy” and excitement in the game – a point, he says, that’s perhaps lost among the members of the FRC that include Dublin’s Jim Gavin, Donegal’s Michael Murphy, Mayo’s James Horan and Kerry’s Eamonn Fitzmaurice.
“It’s so disappointing because you’ve worked hard to make it an attractive position to play – the likes of myself and Rory [Beggan], Odhran Lynch, Graham Brody and Ethan Rafferty.
“Every time the goalkeeper gets the ball you can hear the crowd lifting a wee bit. That’s exciting. They keep talking about jeopardy. The amount of times I sprinted back to goal, you could hear the crowd screaming.”
Morgan, who plays outfield for his club, is “baffled” by the thrust of some of the other new proposals that are up for discussion and have been trialled in sandbox games.
Another of the seven “core [rule] enhancements” is for teams to keep at least three players in each ‘65 at all times in a bid to create more space for the attacking team. The FRC did add, however, that it believed the game was “in a good state”.
Morgan added: “I suppose my biggest fear is you end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater. How many rules are there? If you’re sitting as a referee now, you’re probably thinking, what’s going on?
“How is a club referee going to decide that there were only three players in each half? How do you counteract that? You’re going to have teams that will have players running down one channel back into their half while somebody runs down the other side to create that advantage.”
“I don’t see a lot wrong with the game... It’s going through a phase that some say is not as exciting or entertaining – but it has never been more competitive.”
“Sometimes I feel it’s a case of, ‘we [the FRC] may change something, or they’ll think we’re not doing anything.’
“I haven’t heard of how those games went. But these rules are going to be decided by people who don’t play the game anymore.”
If the rules trial is passed at Special Congress, there would be a mid-season review of them in 2025, with a view of them becoming permanent for the following season.