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Maurice Deegan: Referees benefit from rule changes as football gets faster

Speed of game means less contact and fewer stoppages, which reduces potential for incidents

Referee Noel Mooney awarding a two-point score in the game between Mayo and Galway at MacHale Park, Castlebar. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Referee Noel Mooney awarding a two-point score in the game between Mayo and Galway at MacHale Park, Castlebar. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Maurice Deegan
Tue Feb 04 2025 - 06:00

I went to Portlaoise on Sunday for Laois v Offaly, which ended up in a historic win for the visitors, who I was amazed to learn hadn’t won this fixture for 60 years. They were well worth the points, sharper and better at exploiting the new rules.

At one point the ball was kicked out to the middle of the field and caught by an Offaly player. He was fouled by four Laois opponents trying to stop him going any farther so he got the free.

While the Laois lads were giving out to one another he had gone past the four of them on a “solo and go” before they realised he’d taken it. Bang! Straight into an Offaly man and over the bar.

You could see that Offaly had played the week before and Laois hadn’t. They were way more clued in to the “solo and go” and used it every chance they got. They had played a match with a bit of intensity the week before as opposed to a challenge game.

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It is very interesting that lack of match practice didn’t appear to affect the Division One teams as both Donegal and Kerry – their opening match was postponed until next weekend – won close contests whereas in the lower divisions it had a negative impact.

All four teams from Divisions Three and Four who were playing their first fixture of the season, Leitrim, Laois, Wicklow and Waterford were beaten. This will level out in the weeks ahead.

General data on the new rules so far has been encouraging. Take restarts. Contested kick-outs in 2024 were at 26 per cent. The year before was 36 per cent. After round one of this year’s league last week the figure had gone up to 63 per cent.

Contests have more than doubled on last year. I know it’s still early days but the trend is positive.

It makes it easier for referees as well. I spoke to a good few on Sunday night and Monday morning.

One said that he loved the first half, which played for 37 minutes and was as good as non-stop but there were injuries in the second half which made it very stop-start and the half took 45 minutes between all of the stoppages. It’s a big difference.

The two-pointers are having such an influence in games. Down were trailing by 10 against Cork at half time and within 10 minutes of the second half starting they were level. Tyrone kept Saturday’s match with Armagh alive in the second half by kicking a few. In Portlaoise you never felt Laois were completely dead and buried because of them, and Kerry stayed on Derry’s coat-tails in the second half with a couple.

The advantage has also changed and that’s a major rule enhancement. It’s now completely at the discretion of the referee. There is no time limit any more. Even if it happens out in the middle of the field and the player has advantage and breaks a tackle, then another tackle and then kicks it wide, that can be brought all the way back to the halfway line or wherever the foul happened. Now, people aren’t roaring at the referee – remember this was still going on up to last year – ‘ref, the five seconds are up!’ It’s now up to the referee how long the advantage lasts.

It’s actually easier to referee the game now because there’s not as much contact, as the game is going so fast.

The “solo and go” is revolutionising football already. If you scrapped everything else and just kept the “solo and go” it would still be a big change by opening up the game and forcing the opposition to pay attention and stay in touch.

Another referee said he was buzzing! He’d never had as handy a game because it never stopped. It’s during stoppages that an awful lot of incidents arise. Those are reduced because the action is so relentless that players have to get on with it.

The amount of space in behind the 40m arc is noticeable because that’s where teams are setting up defensively and what’s happening is that some referees are adapting to it as well by refereeing from outside the arc so that they’re not adding to the congestion inside.

Instead of short runs here and there between stops in the game, it’s now sustained up and down. Referees have to adapt their training style to suit the pace of the new game.

The idea of an extra substitute was floated over the weekend after the Donegal-Dublin match and I’d say it’s something the FRC will come back to. To be fair Jim (Gavin) is very open-minded and like everyone on the committee is interested in absolutely anything that might improve the game. If a sixth substitute is something we think can help it will be looked at.

People should also bear in mind that the process is still experimental. The rule enhancements are under review all of the time, and will be revised at the end of the league and again after the championship. We are not going to have a settled rule book until after next winter’s special congress decides that it wants to make the proposed changes permanent.

We are only at the foot of this particular mountain but the direction is definitely upwards.