Dealing with the Handpass once and for all

IN ALL FAIRNESS

Depending on your beliefs, democracy is under pressure in many countries around the world. One organisation where it isn’t is the GAA where one member from a club in any part of the country can have a say in how the Association is run and how its games are played.

In this respect, Conor O’Donovan and the Nenagh Eire Og club having a motion making its way onto the Clar at annual Congress in Donegal last weekend was an achievement in itself, even if it didn’t succeed in becoming rule.

I was never confident the motion would succeed, not that there wasn’t merit in it, but that it was the solution that would get enough support. What I did fear was the motion would be so badly beaten, it would signal that the handpass problem, and there is a problem, just doesn’t matter to enough people in the country.

That it secured just over 33% of the vote shows that a sizeable proportion of the membership agree there is an issue, and that instead of the GAA thinking it will now go away, it is something that has to be tackled.

To be fair, the issue generated a lot of debate on GAA podcasts last week, as well as articles in newspapers, such as here on the Nenagh Guardian, and on television, again evidence that it was one of the more prominent motions at Congress, highlighting that there is an issue.

However, I feel that the proposal put forward by Conor O’Donovan is not the way forward. “To handpass the ball, from the same hand that is holding the ball, or without it being released and struck with a definite striking action of the hand,” would be a massive shift away from how the game has always been played with the ability to pass out of the hand the ball is in. It isn’t helped by the rise in the number of handpasses in the game which is a separate issue altogether.

What is still possible is the current rule can be implemented fully by referees which it is largely not, apart from Colm Cunning who pulled Dublin at least twice for throws against Offaly in the National League last Saturday, both of which were crucial as the first led to the incident for Conor Burke’s red card from where Offaly rallied, with the second leading to Dan Ravenhill’s match-winning free.

The current rule is clear, there must be a clear striking action, but many of the handpasses nowadays are not. Slow motion action replays to determine if there is separation between the hand and the ball is not a clear striking action, no matter what high profile former players say, effectively validating rule breaking. When they do that, they pile pressure on referees who probably feel, if I am going to get crucified for applying the rule, what is the point of doing do.

I have always felt the solution was applying the current rule in a draconian fashion at the start of the league, with any dubious handpass is penalised and if that leads to an increase in frees for a few games, so be it. Referees should be backed for applying the rule, whereas currently the players and the coaches who are allowing it to happen, are getting off Scot free.

Spectators want the rule to be enforced, you can’t go to a game without hearing people in the stands and terraces shout “throw.” If you penalise the player enough, they won’t be long coming round.