Pat Spillane: Is that really Gaelic football the way we want it to be played? Most definitely not

But if you’ll allow me to digress for a second.

I know I shouldn’t be explaining myself, after 34 years of being a GAA columnist for the Sunday World and now the Irish Independent.

But sometimes needs must and I can’t help but notice how social media outlets, love to quote freely from my articles every week.

Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and maybe I should take it as a compliment. Oscar Wilde, of course, once said that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

But I happened to be at a function last week where a number of Donegal people were present and after a while, I noticed that they were being even cooler than normal with me.

Surely, I thought, they had forgotten about their All-Ireland defeat by now?

Actually no, they haven’t, but that’s not the point I’m making. Here’s the gas part, it was about my ‘criticism’ of Michael Murphy being nominated for footballer of the year.

Now that word criticism, you must understand, is used very loosely nowadays.

I could only laugh when some of these Donegal people took out their phones and showed me headlines from social media sites. ‘Spillane slams Michael Murphy.’ ‘Spillane criticises Michael Murphy.’ ‘Spillane has a right go at Michael Murphy.’ Take your pick. ‘Spillane is anti-Donegal.’

That was the general gist of the headlines. I’m not responsible for headlines of course. And I never even used any of those words in my column.

I merely pointed out two weeks ago my admiration for Michael Murphy as a person and as a player.

Indeed, I also selected him on my All-Star team of the year.

My column, as I have so often pointed out, is an opinion piece. It is subjective. But here’s the key. I use evidence to form my opinions.

Conor O’Donnell was Donegal’s best forward all year. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

When it comes to Murphy, I suggested that three Donegal players in 2025 had better championships than he did – Michael Langan, Finbarr Roarty and Conor O’Donnell.

I even pointed out that Conor O’Donnell was Donegal’s best forward all year.

Funnily enough, after a brief chat, all the Donegal people who were critical of me actually agreed and said, yeah, you’re probably right, those three probably were better than Murphy this year.

But of course, sadly, they were forming their opinions based on what I wrote being taken up the wrong way on social media.

As Donald Trump might say, fake news.

So, in future, people, please read the words in this column more clearly. Don’t be jumping to conclusions and sewing it into ‘Spillane the old dinosaur’ based on incorrect headlines from these lesser-known outlets.

Rant over. Back to matters GAA.

Now, wasn’t it brilliant news that the new playing rules have all been adopted by the GAA? In a way, I feel somewhat vindicated because for years, yours truly was amongst a very small bunch of GAA pundits who constantly criticised the way the modern game of Gaelic football had evolved.

For years, I was subject to the usual ould shite. Hand Spillane his P45. He’s out of touch with the modern game. Time to put him out to grass. And of course, the common criticism was that thread about evolution.

They tried to point out that the game is evolving, and evolution is, of course, important and inevitable. I’m not blind to that. What was conveniently forgotten by these people is that evolution must be for the betterment of the game.

And with Gaelic football, it most certainly wasn’t in the last decade or so. It was to its detriment.

Of course, you will still get the sceptics and the critics – the people who still believe that the earth is flat and Elvis is alive. They call them conspiracy theorists in today’s world.

FRC chairman Jim Gavin. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Thankfully though, Jarlath Burns, Jim Gavin, and the FRC were singing off the same hymn sheet as I was, thinking that the game of Gaelic football needed remedial action. And isn’t it brilliant that so many stakeholders in the GAA have bought in so overwhelmingly to these new rules?

In all bar one motion at special congress, the GAA delegates voted over 90 per cent in favour of the FRC’s recommendations. The only motion that received less than 90 per cent was for the hooter, which was passed anyway on 67pc.

It’s fantastic news.

And what about the inter-county players, you might ask, those who have to play the game?

Well, 94pc of inter-county players say the new rules have improved the game, while two-thirds believe that the players’ experience is now much improved.

Supporters gave their seal of approval to the new rules. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

What about the spectators, who for years had to suffer watching the old shite? Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, with over one million people watching the 2025 senior football championship, a 20pc increase on the previous year, while the attendance at National League games increased by 25pc.

Brilliant, brilliant news. Everyone is happy. So, am I happy? Of course I am, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be more tweaks to these rules.

Perfection is all about raising the bar even further and getting even better. Just to remind you, the four key priorities of the FRC were to increase kick-passing, high-fielding, long-range point scoring and goal-scoring.

Most definitely, they have increased high-fielding. We’ve seen some wonderful examples and at the same time, long-range points are thankfully back with a bang.

But when it comes to kick-passing and goal-scoring, the stats don’t lie, and these areas still need to be addressed.

Let’s look at the matter of goal-scoring first.

There were 228 green flags raised between this year’s All-Ireland, the provincial championships and the Tailteann Cup – just seven more than last year.

The average number of goals per game only increased very marginally from 2.0 to 2.1, which isn’t nearly enough.

Believe it or not, there was actually a 45pc increase in the number of attempts on goal, going from 4.2 to 6.1. But, obviously, they haven’t been successful and I fully believe that four-point goals are the way forward.

Look at the success of the two-point score which rewarded risk-taking and led to players having a go and taking on shots from beyond the arc.

I think the FRC should double down and reward risk-taking once again by giving four points for a goal.

We’ve seen the alternative so often, and again this year, where players take the easy option and take the hand-pass point, even though they’re one-on-one with a goalkeeper. The hand-pass point is not a skill and it most definitely doesn’t improve the game as a spectacle.

Which brings me to the area of kick-passing v hand-passing.

I could quote you stats non-stop, but the bottom line is that hand-passing is increasing. And one only has to look at the hand-pass to kick-pass ratio over the years to understand.

In 2011, the hand-pass to kick-pass ratio was 1.9 to 1, but by 2023, it had gone up to 3.1 to 1. In 2025, after all the FRC’s work, the hand-pass to kicking ratio had actually gone up to an alarming 4.3 to 1.

That equates to over four times more hand-passing than kick-passing. It’s not good enough and the stats from this year’s All-Ireland final say it all.

There were 481 hand-passes in the game compared to 450 in the 2024 decider. If we stay going the way we’re going, then we’ll probably break the 500 mark in next year’s final.

So, when it comes to kick-passing, I have to put it bluntly and say that the FRC’s new rules haven’t had the desired effect.

The fact that the number of kick-passes dropped in this year’s championship from 131 per game in 2024 to 90 is the most frightening stat of all.

Kerry’s Jason Foley lifts the Sam Maguire. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Something is wrong when you see that; in the All-Ireland final, three Kerry players – Jason Foley, Dylan Casey and Mark O’Shea – never kicked the ball at all as they won the game by 10 points.

The scourge of the hand-pass was clear to see in the Leinster final when Louth ran down the clock and kept possession for the last seven minutes of the game.

How about the two minutes and three seconds before half-time in the All-Ireland final with Kerry holding the ball, waiting for the hooter. There were 21 passes in that passage of play, yet only two were kicks and one of them was David Clifford’s score.

Is that really Gaelic football the way we want it to be played? Most definitely not.

The hand-pass is the elephant in the room and it needs addressing.

But of course, I’m happy. For my summary of the FRC and what they’ve achieved, I’m reminded of the famous Fianna Fáil election slogan from 2002: A lot done, more to do.