A first look at GAA’s new trial rules: exciting kickouts and countless aerial midfield contests

The GAA’s new trial rules started this week. The latest batch of new trial rules, that is. Another bunch will be along shortly, and almost certainly before Ireland ever manage to contest a Rugby World Cup semi-final.

Even though the rugby crowd have decided to continue with their shindig in France, the GAA long realised that for Ireland the competition would conclude in mid-October.

So, once Stephen Kenny had negotiated fortress Faro on Monday, the national sporting agenda for the rest of the week could be dominated by debate on kickouts and puckouts, forward frees in football and extravagant hurling handpasses.

What do you mean, what GAA trial rules? If you haven’t heard then you’ve either been living under the rock of Gibraltar since arriving there on Monday only to discover Ireland were playing in Portugal, or you’ve spent a melancholic week in Paris, missing erstwhile friends and guzzling flat champagne. Zombie, indeed.

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The two football trial rules are:

1 A kickout must travel beyond the near 45 metre line before it can be played by another player on the defending team. Penalty – A throw-in on the defender’s 20 metre line in front of the scoring space.

2 Free kicks, sideline kicks, and marks taken between the two 20 metre lines cannot be played backwards. Penalty – A throw-in from where the foul occurred.

They were drawn up by the GAA’s Standing Committee on Playing Rules (SCPR) and are being trialled in the Higher Education’s Freshers 1 Leagues.

So, off The Irish Times went to Belfield on Thursday night to see them in action, where UCD beat DCU 1-17 to 1-11 following an entertaining match.

And the standout takeaways – both teams lost their kickouts, and the last time there were this many aerial midfield contests and breaking-ball battles in a game was when Willie John McBride carried the Irish rugby team on his back.

UCD had 16 kickouts, won five, lost 11. DCU had 21 kickouts, won 10, lost 11. And UCD won the game.

Winning possession on kickouts was something of a lottery, but it was entertaining and exciting as both keepers went old school on restarts. It felt like a throwback, but that level of chance is the stuff of sleepless nights for coaches.

In a statistical report compiled by Gaelic Stats for the GAA, it found 64 per cent of all kickouts in the 2023 intercounty SFC were uncontested.

Also, 59 per cent of kickouts went beyond the 45 in 2023, compared with 86 per cent in 2011.

On Thursday night, every kickout went beyond the 45 and only two were uncontested.

As for frees between the two 20 metre lines, none were inadvertently kicked backwards.

Indeed, when DCU won an injury-time free inside the UCD 20 metre line and the resulting kick went backwards, which is allowed, it was noticeable because it was the first time all night that had happened.

It would be foolish to judge off one game and there were several mitigating factors that allowed high-fielding contests and breaking-ball battles to dominate.

Firstly, both teams only came together recently so there was not sufficient time for the coaches to implement structures and systems of play to effectively tackle the trial rules. Secondly, the conditions certainly had an impact. This wasn’t summer football.

Also, referee Andrew Smith did a fantastic job officiating, clearly understanding players were adjusting to new rules.

In preparation, UCD manager Colm Riddell had refereed an in-house training game earlier in the week.

“I didn’t realise the kickout was such a complete game-changer until seeing it in that,” commented Riddell. “I still thought you’d be able to knock a few out to the sides, but by the time that lands, it’s going to be breaking ball – you are going to catch it, contest it or break it.

“Another thing, you don’t have to press kickouts, you kind of get a bit of a breather, sit in the middle and let the chaos unfold.”

DCU manager Mossy Burke watched with interest as the midfield battle developed.

“The game itself, with the long kickouts, it was probably decent,” he said.

“I don’t know if there were many clean catches. It was more fighting in around the middle to try win as many breaking balls as possible.”

Smith was the man tasked with keeping tabs on the contest.

“There was a different structure to the game,” said the Meath referee.

“There was an awful lot of breaking ball, they call them rucks in hurling, six, seven, eight lads in around the ball, it can get a bit messy and scrappy on the ground. Maybe on a summer’s day it might play differently.”

As they become more familiar with these trial rules, managers will spot areas they can target. Riddell pointed out the attacking team can gain an advantage by quickly getting forwards out around the middle because the defending side will hold players in their full-back line.

More experienced outfits might use tactical fouling around the middle, slowing the game down and funnelling players back – knowing the resulting free must be kicked forward.

“If I was to make a tweak, I’d add to it that you have to keep three forwards inside the 45, because otherwise it just gets very bunched,” suggested Riddell.

Burke can also see certain scenarios where established teams will try capitalise but the Galway native reckons there is no harm with experimentation of these rules.

“Two Fresher teams, smart lads, they take things up quickly and they like the challenge of it as well,” added Burke.

“I suppose maybe in x amount of years they can always look back and say, ‘we were involved in that trial period’. It wasn’t a bad start. It’s probably worth a try.”

The rules will continue to be road-tested over the coming weeks.

The SCPR will seek feedback through post-game surveys. Gaelic Stats will then conduct a comprehensive analysis in December and a report will be presented to Central Council in January.