Jarlath Burns keen for football to get back to basics in rule change debate

A crucial month is upcoming for Gaelic football. Next Friday and Saturday will see interprovincial matches at Croke Park, where the proposed changes that the GAA's Football Review Committee have come up with, will be trialled.

On 26 October, Central Council will meet to review the seven proposals, to ratify or otherwise for a Special Congress on 30 November. Whatever is decided will be in place for the whole of 2025, with a full review taking place at another Special Congress late next year ahead of the adoption into the updated rulebook for 2026.

Running the rule: Proposed changes to Gaelic football

So, that's the timeline ahead.

Speaking to RTÉ's Sunday Sport ahead of next weekend's trail games, GAA president Jarlath Burns spoke about getting the "basic principles" back into the game.

"When Jim Gavin and his incredible committee began to look back at the results coming in from the surveys, people said they wanted to see more kicking, catching, more one-to-one competition, and long-range scores.

"That has been their north star really and now it's a case of what we can do to create that."

Expanding further on the four principles just referenced, Burns added: "Those principles are what we used to see a lot more often in the game, where you used to kick the ball and hope for the best. As a midfielder that was something that I always had to cultivate, that was the high catch.

"Another one of the things that people would have debated would be the battle between the corner-back and corner-forward. That is gone now because of the way we are setting it up. A lot of these rule enhancements are trying to get those basic principles into the game."

As for the proposed rule where a team must keep any three outfield players in each half