Kildare's All-Ireland final referee notes his changes and improvements to new rules

All-Ireland referee, Brendan Cawley insists the new rules in Gaelic football have been an outstanding success, so much so that from an excitement point of view “we now have a game that has nearly surpassed hurling, while acknowledging that there may still be a few tweaks before they are finally adopted in full.

“Change is always challenging, it is something that as a group of national referees we embraced, last year, we spent a huge amount of time meeting the FRC, giving feed-back, trying to steer them in a certain direction and, in fairness, they probably got an insight into what we do that many others wouldn't.

“We had expected they may have been a challenge but they have proven to be fantastic, even our own Tailteann Cup final it was a great game due to the open attacking 1v1 type of football.”

The Sarsfields man added that “last week there were more sandbox games where they are trialing another two or three tweaks to the rules, we (national referees body) are meeting them to review the rules, from my own point of view the rules have been brilliant, have had no major challenges implementing them, we were afforded an opportunity early in the year to learn by implementing them, made mistakes but as the year went on were tidied up.”

I have done a good bit of work with Kildare GAA, along with other counties, Leinster referees, upskilling them — no more than yourself texting me — a huge amount of people text me weekly and I would like to say that never in 21 years have I been as well versed in the rules, just because we have spent so much time talking about them, teaching them and refereeing, it has been so straight forward and I think following the weekend, the proof is in the pudding.”

Any tweaking you would be in favour of?

“Yes, I would like to see the touch by a goalkeeper for a two-point shot still being a two-point score, I think for a fantastic shot from well outside 40m or wherever, yet the slightest touch makes it just a one point, I think it should be a two-point score, it would also alleviate some of the challenges for an umpire to see if it was touched or not.”
Brendan says he would also like to see the introduction of a card for cynical play.

“We have a card for rough play, we have a card for dangerous play, we are very limited for a deliberate pull-down or a deliberate hold-up for a black card while if we had situations that could put into cynical might help; they are also looking at the hand-pass score; looking at if you go over the half-way line you can't go backwards, they would be interesting.”

On the four-point goal the top official says “I would be agnostic on that, it was removed from the table very early, pros and cons to it; a four-point goal would be a huge boost to a team but on the flip side of that if you have a very strong side that get two or three goals in quick succession that kind of ends the game.”

Another change the Kildare man would like to see changed is the 'solo and go' rule.

“On the solo and go you are allowed four metres, I think on a quick free, one that is non-scorable, a player if he is fouled should be allowed to move four metres and then take the quick free, it would keep the game moving but overall the game has been hugely improved.”

Club games
Since the new football rules were introduced there has been much talk of how they would affect and how well they would be implemented at club level but the All-Ireland referee expresses little or no concern in that regard.

“From December I have engaged with Kildare referees, updating them on the new rules, got them into a room in January and in February, twice over the last couple of weeks and again last week, for lads who missed the last meeting, ensuring they are up to speed for the upcoming championship and it has to be acknowledged they (local referees) have embraced them; willing to learn and unskill themselves.

“We have done a lot of education led by Ger Arnold, Paddy McDermott, Henry Barrett to update referees, but no different to yourself (this reporter) you have often text me after certain games, as have managers and referees, and I would far rather a fella comes with a question and is willing to learn, that is how the next time he may not make that mistake.

“With regards to the 4x3 rule and its implementation, coming into the local championship now, it will be great to have the assistance of linesmen— that is the way we (national referees) operate it — that responsibility is now primarily with linesmen so the referee can focus on the game and that will be the case in local championship games and I don't see any major problems arising.”

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