O'Donovan: ‘Unwatchable’ football needs rule changes

CORK GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan will support any proposed rule changes that ‘open up the field’ after admitting football has become ‘unwatchable’.

The health of Gaelic football is a hot topic with many labelling the current possession-based style as ‘boring’ and ‘predictable’, and the Cork GAA chief admits he wouldn’t attend an inter-county match for a spectacle.

Cork footballers’ recent All-Ireland SFC quarter-final loss to Derry in Croke Park was branded a borefest, with former Sunday Game analyst Pat Spillane describing the action as ‘drivel’.

Agreeing that football is now a hard watch, O’Donovan feels it has outgrown its rules and changes are needed.

‘I have a twin-track approach. When I go to see Cork footballers play, the objective on that day is to win that match,’ O’Donovan told this week’s Star Sport Podcast.

‘As a spectator I have said it, that football is unwatchable. I go to support Cork as a supporter, I wouldn’t be going to an inter-county football match for a spectacle or for something that would blow your mind away in terms of imagination.

‘I separate them – I want Cork to win matches, we must play the modern game, we must set up defensively, but the rules are wrong. The game has outgrown the rules we have now. It’s the job of the rulemakers to fix the game. It’s not the job of the Cork manager to fix football, it’s his job to make Cork compete and win.

‘When I put on my other hat as an administrator, as a member of the GAA and as somebody who goes to Congress, I think that is where you fix it.’

While a form of off-side has been touted as one possible solution, O’Donovan feels that targeting the kick-out could herald change in football tactics.

‘I have come to my own conclusion, albeit maybe an uninformed one, that it is the kick-out, and I would have everybody take up their positions for the kick-out. Then after that if the corner forward wants to run back 50 times in a match into the cornerback position, well, we’ll see how long that will last. I really think it’s a rule change,’ O’Donovan explained.

He added: ‘Have no doubt I will be supporting any change that will open up the field. The one I go back to is the most simple one: a contest for the kick-out. Position your players from the set-piece which is the kick-out, and then maybe leave the game to move on.’