All seven of the new rules proposed by Jim Gavin and the Football Rules Committee have passed Special Congress and will be implemented in 2025.
The idea of these enhancements is to speed the game up, make it more entertaining, and encourage kick passing.
The three-up rule is everyone’s favourite as it brings a traditional shape back to the game, and it leaves the forwards with much more space to work their magic.
Even the likes of Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane, have been cheerleading the new rules, after spending decades criticising the sport, and the defensive structures that have infiltrates the modern game.
Both county legends came from a time when kicking was king, and they want to see a return to that, so naturally they were delighted to see the changes come in.
However, Brolly was critical of the fact that there is no rule to ‘ban the sweeper’, and now Spillane, after some thought, has his own critiques of the new game.
The Kerry legend wrote in his latest Sunday World column that the FRC have missed a trick.
“The elephant in the room, the over-use of one skill that has taken the joy out of football.
“Yes, you’ve guessed it, hand-passing, or, should that read the over use of hand-passing.
"In 2011, the All-Ireland senior football championship averaged 250 hand-passes per game; this year it had risen to 450 - and, sadly, the FRC has chosen not to amend the hand-passing rule.
“When teams are trying to close out a game, my fear is that we will still be subject to more of the same – boring keep-ball, retention, retention and more retention.
“I hope I am wrong.”
The former RTE pundit was also vocal about the sheer volume of changes being introduced, and expressed concerns about the referee’s ability to handle all of the changes.
One thing that both Brolly, Spillane, and the FRC can agree on, is that change is needed, and that it can’t be worse than it was before.
READ MORE: “I'm So Happy That We Could Put Carlow On The Map With An All-Ireland”
