Benny Hurl, chairman of the GAA’s Higher Education Committee (HEC), says the association is happy to accommodate football and hurling trial rules in third-level leagues next month.

Kevin McStay’s Gaelic football Expert Advisory Group (EAG) have proposed a series of rule adjustments for the big-ball code that will be operational in Division One of the third-level league when it begins on October 14th.

And the hurling Expert Advisory Group, under the leadership of John Meyler and William Maher, will also be tabling rule changes for experimentation in the small-ball game.

There are no plans to have the trials extended to the Sigerson or Fitzgibbon cups – with the road-testing to be confined solely to third-level leagues.

Hurl does not see the trials as an imposition, saying the HEC has been kept well briefed by the respective advisory groups and was aware some form of rule experimentation was likely this autumn.

“It would be important for me to say, as chair of the Higher Education Committee, this was flagged some time ago to us,” says Hurl.

“We had an idea that they might be looking at a couple of rule adjustments, so the colleges were told back then.

“We’ve had good notice that there was a possibility that something would be happening, so we took it to the committee, the committee said no problem and that we’d do it on the basis that it would be the leagues only.”

The HEC also looked for assurances there would be no mid-competition tweaks or amendments and that details of the rule changes would be made available well in advance so that coaches and players would have sufficient time to prepare.

“The other thing that we’ve been insistent upon is that the referees would be from the national panel and the national development panel,” adds Hurl.

“A lot of people just seem to forget about the referees. We’ve loaded the referees with so much information on so many rules recently, so it would be important that the views of referees on the new adjustments would be taken into account as well.”

The football Expert Advisory Group is comprised of McStay, Maurice Fitzgerald, Conor McManus, David Coldrick, John Tobin, Seamus Kenny, Pat Doherty and Johnny Bradley.

There has been some criticism around the timing of yet another batch of possible rule changes, coming so soon after the implementation of adjustments proposed by Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee.

But Hurl says the Higher Education Committee’s role in the latest series of experimentation is solely to provide a testing area.

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“They are simply trials and nothing more than that. I think Kevin and his group would be very keen to get the message across that nothing has been agreed for next year or anything else, it’s just basically an exercise to see what works and what doesn’t.

“We’re doing something very similar with hurling in the league too because they’re going to trial a few things as well. So, it’s not only football.”

The Hurling EAG is made up of Meyler, Maher, Richie Hogan, Ursula Jacob, Jeff Lynskey, Rory Hanniffy, John Keenan, Terry Reilly and Dr Michael McKay.

Committee members are currently finalising their proposed amendments but under consideration include efforts to tackle the throw handpass, a rewording of the black card rule that could also see four points awarded for a goal on the back of said offence, awarding two points from a sideline, limiting the back pass to the goalkeeper and the possibility of keeping three players inside the opposition 45. They aim to have all details confirmed next week.

“From our perspective as a committee, we’ve always made ourselves and our competitions available to rule trials and to rule adjustments to see if something works better for our games. And this is just another occasion,” says Hurl.

“In terms of the rules themselves, as committee members we don’t really get involved in the merits or otherwise of the rule adjustments. We’re happy to leave that to the experts.

“I suppose, third level, Comhairle Ardoideachais, does get good support from the GAA nationally and we believe that our league competition will provide a good lens within which to view the rule adjustments.

“From our perspective, we want to do our bit simply to help the GAA and to provide a platform to decide if there’s merit in looking at the proposed rule adjustments.”

Football rules to be trialled next month

  • A ban on fisted points, unless the ball is in flight.
  • The worth of a goal to be increased to four points.
  • A limit of three consecutive handpasses before the ball must be kicked.
  • Implementation of a backcourt rule whereby a team cannot play the ball back across the halfway line once they’ve entered the opposition half of the pitch.
  • Kickouts only have to travel 13m rather than beyond the 40m arc.
  • Increase the number of subs allowed from five to six.
  • Extend the 40m arc to the end-line.
  • A 50m advancement where a mark is impeded.
  • All 50m advanced frees to be taken from the 13m line rather than the 20m line.