Ballynacargy motion seeks to make football more entertaining

With many observers feeling that Gaelic football is in need of some major rule changes in order to make it more appealing to supporters, the Ballynacargy club had an interesting motion on the convention clár, calling for all frees to be kicked forward.

It was the only motion to prove successful at convention, with other clubs firmly agreeing that the game is in need of some fresh ideas to make it more entertaining.

Brian Sheridan, Ballynacargy, referred to the poor skill level in Gaelic football. “We saw the cost of producing adult teams (in Westmeath it was €1.2m). The big question is what skills are we seeing on the pitch as spectators of the game? With back passing, (moving) across the field and back to the goalkeeper now dominating, we felt that this motion, all frees be kicked forward, might be a small help in the right direction,” he said.

Tom Hunt, central council delegate, advised that a similar idea was trialled in the freshers competition and felt the motion would need some tweaking as there could be free close to the end line, for example, that players may not be able to kick forward.

“But that’s just a small point. It may very well appear from other counties at the 2024 GAA Congress: there will be a lot of stats from this year’s trial. That will determine the future of kicking all the frees forward,” he said. In a light-hearted moment Mr Hunt revealed: “Colm Parkinson (former Laois player and pundit) had a programme on TV recently and thought it was the stupidest idea ever and the committee who brought it in for trial are worse than stupid. And I was on that committee!”

Frank Mescall couldn’t resist. He added: “I don’t often agree with Colm Parkinson, but he might have a point! I’m glad he said it, and not me!”

But amid the humour, there was broad acceptance that football needs change and delegates supported the Ballynacargy motion. It was seconded from the floor and after a vote, was carried by a strong majority.

Mr Mescall said the committee will work at tidying up the motion for GAA congress.