Darragh Ó Sé: High-fielding move can make mark on game

When you send something to congress to get voted on, you’re basically crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

Of all the things we debated on the rules committee over the course of last year, the mark was something we felt would have a chance of making it through and getting over the 66 per cent needed. It passed with 68 per cent.

That was the most frustrating aspect of it for me. This 66 per cent thing just slows everything down so much. I think the new mark rule will have a positive effect on the game but it’s not going to turn the whole sport on its head by any means. And still it was a big struggle to get it over the line. Imagine if we had come up with something really radical.

My thinking on the mark is this. It should be a basic principle in any situation where a referee is making a decision that is that the player showcasing a skill should get the benefit of that skill.

At the very least, he shouldn’t be penalised for it. But we have all seen the way it is now in the game – a guy goes up to catch a ball above his head and gets surrounded as soon as he lands, eventually resulting in him giving away a free for holding onto the ball too long. That, to me, is just totally wrong.

High fielding

High fielding has gone by the wayside over the years, partly because of that and partly because so many kick outs are going short. Personally, I would have been in favour of a rule coming in that a kick out would have to go beyond the 45 because it would mean spreading the bodies out more around the pitch.

But I can see why it might not be workable, especially in windy conditions. But at least we can get rid of the bunching around a player who has caught the ball this way.

And it might bring back the out-and-out midfielder, a species that is becoming extinct in the game. Most counties get away with having half backs and wing forwards playing in midfield now. Dublin have had James McCarthy and Cian O'Sullivan and Paul Flynn in there at times. I know positions mean very little in the modern game and that's just evolution. But you don't want to turn it into a game where everybody is just completely interchangeable either.

I think the rule will have a positive effect. Even if you just watched the games on Sunday, Donegal got a goal that started with Donal Vaughan of Mayo catching a kick out from Rob Hennelly in midfield before being dispossessed. Now to me, Vaughan was fouled but not only did he not get his free but he was swallowed up straight away and Donegal had the ball in the net 10 seconds later.

With the new rule, Vaughan could have claimed his mark and the Donegal players would have had to step back. As it was, there was no advantage for Mayo in what was a brilliant kick by Hennelly and a fine catch by Vaughan. Worse than that, it ended up in the goal that changed the game.

Players and managers will tinker around the edges of this rule and find their own loop holes in it to use to their own advantage. That’s fine, it happens with every rule. As long as we keep evolving the game, that’s the main thing.

In that regard, I felt that this was a no-brainer.

Darragh Ó Sé is a member of the GAA’s standing playing rules committee