Gaelic football at a crossroads

The GAA was invented as a way to promote Irish tradition and a way of rejecting the emergence of English football in the country as a result of Ireland being part of the British Empire. The founding members of the GAA met in 1884 and set up the organisation to preserve national pastimes. They are honoured to this day in the national stadium of Croke Park, which is the third largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 82,300.

Gaelic football has existed since this day, but the sport is at a severe crossroads in 2024. It has become stale for some time now, with viewership down as games are now behind a paywall, and attendance is down mainly due to the fact that football is no longer exciting to watch.

In one of the All Ireland Quarter finals this year Kerry took on Derry and the problems that exist in Gaelic Football were plain to see by everyone who witnessed it (you can see my prediction for this game at

Over the years, Kerry have been a bright spark, often playing open, expansive attacking football. This was not the case in the Quarterfinal for the simple reason they couldn’t. Derry played a very defensive game with the hope of hitting Kerry on the counterattack, so to avoid this Kerry played Derry at their own game. Kerry played a slow, methodical game and kept a strong defensive shape. The match was a slow, ponderous game, but Kerry got the win, highlighting the problem with football: win by any means necessary.

In the last two decades, football has become defensive, slow and tactical, with many teams opting to hand pass rather than kick pass in order to take out the risk of losing possession. It has become painful to watch for supporters, the only thing keeping people any way invested is the fact that they are supporting their local clubs and counties.

As mentioned, the philosophy in Gaelic football at the moment is to win by any means necessary as opposed to hurling, where sides go out and give it their all with one goal in mind: outscoring the opposition. Gaelic footballers prepare now like professional athletes but it remains an amateur sport. This is down to outside influences from other team sports like rugby league, rugby union and soccer. The tactical initiatives brought by these coaches completely turned the traditional game on its head. Added to that, we have a merry-go-round of Gaelic coaches who go from team to team with the one goal of winning at all costs. Some of these coaches have no connection to these counties compared to previously, where managers were from the locality. Why are the GAA moving away from what Gaelic football is about, and how hard will it be to return it to what it once was? Can the genie be put back in the bottle?

There are new rules once again being trialled by the GAA, but I believe this is the wrong thing to be doing. New rules keep getting added to our sport, and with each new rule, we move further away from what the sport is about. The sport was designed to be a summer game where 15 players took on 15 players in 1 v 1 battles all across the pitch, but this is not the case anymore. League football is played in the winter and spring months and is deemed to be as important as the championship when this is not the case.

This has factored into the way teams play, as playing on these soft, wet pitches allows teams to play their defensive shape more easily. Some of the new scoring rules that are being tested are 2 points for points that are scored from outside a 40-metre arc and four points for a goal. Other suggestions have included 1 v 1 for all throw-ins and the advanced mark being adapted to where the kick pass must come from outside the 45-metre line and land inside the 20-metre line. There has been praise for these new potential rules, and on paper, some look like a good idea, but they will still not solve the problem that exists currently: teams having everyone behind the ball in order to play in a defensive shape to counter the opposition. When the advanced mark was brought in, it was believed it would encourage kick-passing, but this has not transpired, so why would it be the case now?

While being very critical so far in this article, and not claiming to have all the answers, with attendance down and viewership down, the GAA must act urgently. The sport has moved away from what it was, a 1 v 1 battle all across the pitch. The game has become very professional because of outside influences, and if you are not going to pay the players, why is this professionalism allowed to happen?

It was suggested to me in conversation that we abandon all the unnecessary rules that have been brought in previously, such as the mark, and focus on a rule that will help stop defensive play. The rule states that only one person can tackle the ball carrier, and if a second or third person comes in to tackle, it is an automatic free. I believe this is the perfect rule and would be easy to enforce for the officials. There would be no need to have every player behind the ball as it would be pointless as they could not affect the game. There would be some kinks to work out but all in all it is a rule that redirects the game towards what it once was..

The crossroad that Gaelic football finds itself at is the opposite to hurling, which is thriving, it is clear something drastic needs to be done. The hurling final between Cork and Clare was an amazing sporting spectacle last weekend, will we get the same when Armagh take on Galway in the football final this weekend? We can only hope.

Stay tuned for more weekly sports content.

✒️ Jack Guing – GAA Sports Expert

Jack has a strong knowledge of the sport of GAA through the lens of performance analysis with multiple GAA teams. He holds a masters degree in sports performance. He has a huge love of all things sports especially golf,soccer and GAA bets. He uses statistics and performance analysis in order to predict the outcome of matches and events.