By Patrick Morrison

“ANOTHER week. Another rule!!” This was a text message I received from a goalkeeper I coached several years ago when they heard of the introduction of the new 20-second kick-out clock to Gaelic football, the rationale for its introduction being that goalkeepers are taking far too long to take their kick-outs.

Like a Scooby Doo villain, those pesky goalkeepers are slowing down our game far too much and something needs to be done about it.

To me, it feels more of a token gesture rather than a properly thought out and heavily discussed rule change and if you ask any referee, as I did, this rule was already in place (i.e.- intentional delay of game) so why the need to publicly announce it, I do not know.

I have said for years, even while I was playing, that the powers that be should introduce an exact stated time for all kick-outs. Several times I put it through the due processing system of the GAA via my club, but nothing ever availed from it. Why? My thinking would have been because of what it involved to implement it correctly.

My proposal for a kick-out timer was this. When the ball went dead for a kick-out the timer would start, and the goalkeeper would have 30 seconds to gather a ball, their tee and make their way to the 20-metre line to take the kick-out.

Once the timer ran out there would be a distinctive sound to signal the timer had finished, I gave the example of a single two-second beep. If the ball was still on the tee as the beep sounded, it would be a hop ball on the 20-metre line.

To rule out any doubt, if the goalkeeper was in the process of kicking the ball as the beep sounded, the advantage would be granted to the goalkeeper and the kick-out would be granted signalled by the referee with the advantage/play-on signal.

To ensure that parity and clarity prevailed, a visible clock behind both goals at each end of the field would be installed to allow everyone to see how much time was left to take the kick-out. The clock would be manned by an official not on the field of play, which may or may not require an extra official being added.

How does this transpire to club football? We already have volunteers who work the scoreboards at games, act as umpire and linesmen, so would it be reasonable to suggest that someone could run the kick-out timer also?

By the time you read this sentence, allowing for all punctuation, and read every word with its correct pronunciation; you will have found that the length of time it has taken you to read this sentence is the exact same time given to a goalkeeper to take their kick-out before being penalised.

From the ball goes dead, the goalkeeper is now expected to have retrieve both a ball and their kicking tee, make their way to the 20-metre line, place ball and tee in preparation for the kick, scan and decided upon their best option and then execute their kick with immaculate precision all within 20 seconds.

For me this is a complete lack of understanding and knowledge regarding what is actually involved in an effective kick-out or kick-out strategy.

It will take any player, never mind a goalkeeper, ten to 12 seconds to retrieve a ball and make their way to the 20-metre line. It takes a further three to five seconds to set the kick up and ready yourself for that kick. So, in total it only gives the goalkeeper three to five seconds to execute their kick-out before running the risk of penalisation (allowing a second or two as a buffer).

For me this is completely unfair for any goalkeeper and a more reasonable time of 30 seconds would have been ample because if a team has a set of Restart Routines, they will also require time to get set up and executed.

As any good coach will know, if a routine is run, they do take time for the options to arise. So by this rationale the goalkeeper is not intentionally delaying the game, they are merely awaiting for their options to present. This is where the confusion arises.

Whenever a goalkeeper is intentionally delaying the game, it is clear for everyone to see. A blind man and his dog are able to see when time wasting is being actioned in the same way it is obvious to see whenever a goalkeeper is not intentionally wasting time. Therefore, intentional delay of game should always be penalised accordingly. And my proposal for the kick-out timer, in my opinion, is the fairest and most transparent option.

It is not the introduction of this new time restriction on kick-outs that has disappointed me, but more so the explanation as to why it needed to be introduced. We still regularly see passages of side-to-side play in the attacking third for five plus minutes but no mention of introducing a 20-second shot clock for the attacking team. Not that I think that should be introduced either, by the way.

All in all, my position has not changed in regard to kick-outs. The new rules have only reinforced what I would coach to teams surrounding kick-outs. Get the ball out and away as quickly as possible but 20 seconds seems a bit of an extreme time to expect teams to run off 20 to 30 kick-outs a game. A more measured approach would have been more proactive, maybe even a quick survey sent to all the goalkeepers who are expected to execute the kick-out for feedback could have been done.

I will finish by stressing one point over all else and it is one I have been repeating since the possibility of these new rules being introduced.

Any team that are not thinking and finding ways to exploit the kick-out and the 3v3 rule up front are missing a trick.

Those that figure this out the quickest are the teams that will be having the biggest attacking success for their teams.

Email:pmgoalkeeping@hotmail.com

Facebook: @MSoG11

X: @MorSchGk