Jarlath Burns hails work of FRC after Special Congress ratifies rules
The top table, from left, GAA trustee John Murphy, GAA trustee Tracey Kennedy, Munster Council chairman Tim Murphy, Leinster Council chairman Derek Kent, Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Jarlath Burns, Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA Tom Ryan, Ulster Council Chairman Michael Geoghegan, Connacht GAA Council president Vincent Neary and Britain GAA president Seán Hopkins, as the result of voting on motions 51-54 is shown on the screen, during the GAA Special Congress 2025 at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
GAA President Jarlath Burns paid tribute to the Football Review Committee after all their rule enhancements were ratified at GAA Special Congress today.
A total of 61 motions relating to the FRC rules were passed by delegates and will come into effect from January 1 next year.
“We knew that this game of Gaelic football needed serious surgery if it was going to be the game that we knew it could become and now it has,” said Burns.
“We've watched a full year of the game being played at all levels and we really like what we see and it's important we recognise the people who did the work on this and that's the Football Review Committee.
“I want to thank the FRC members, some of whom are here today, for the incredible work that they put in. They achieved every one of the goals that they set out to.
“They began with this vision that they wanted to make Gaelic football the best field sport to play and watch and participate in. I think, based on what we have seen this year, they have done that and the club championships that we have seen so far have really cemented that.
“So, we pay tribute to all of them. The brevity of today's proceedings was a real vote of confidence in the work that they have done and we have all learned a lot as to how to achieve change in the GAA through the work that the FRC have done.”
Burns was asked in the media briefing after Special Congress had ended how confident he was that the work of the FRC will stand the test of time and preclude the need for any further significant rule changes.
“This has been the first year of it so games have been played a little bit with abandon this year because coaches were trying really to get in tune with, and just to acknowledge a bit of it, how this new game is going to work," said Burns.
“Our coaches are very well qualified. It is their job to win and they will start modifying their approach and how they play the game in a manner that's going to suit the team that they have.
“So we would hope that the answer to that question would be never. You don't know. But all sports from time to time have to change, have to evolve and we would hope that we have left the game in good stead for maybe the next 20 years.
“They have left certain recommendations behind with us and we are going to now start looking at those recommendations but we're just going to take a breath. We've achieved an awful lot. The FRC have achieved an incredible amount.
“We're very proud of what they've achieved. The Standing Committee of Playing Rules will remain to just do tidying up on both hurling and football and they will work with the relevant parties to achieve that.”
GAA Football Review Committee members at the top table, from left, Shane Flanagan, Patrick Doherty, Colm Collins, Michael Meaney, James Horan, Colm Nally and Éamonn Fitzmaurice during a media conference after GAA Special Congress 2025 at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
In it’s Final Report the Football Review Committee made 19 additional recommendations including assessing the merits of further rule changes such as prohibiting a team playing the ball back into their own half after they had moved it into the opposition half and further analysis on the merits of increasing the value of a goal to four points.
The FRC has also recommended that the Games Intelligence Unit which they set up to monitor, track, and collect data to assess whether the rule enhancements were working, be now established as a permanent unit within the Association.
The GIU would in turn support a Gaelic Football Expert Advisory Group comprising inter-county and club managers, players, referees, and other stakeholders to provide informed advice on further potential rule chances aimed at continued enhancement of the game.
“We are going to start looking at those through the Standing Committee on Playing Rules,” said Burns of the 19 FRC recommendations.
“One of the recommendations to set up an expert group and an analysis group and an awful lot of the work that they have done, we would be very keen to maintain it, particularly around how we capture data in games.
“Because every decision you make has to be informed, not by emotion, but by the actual data that comes from games and that's how you achieve change, rationally and pragmatically.
“Not because you see one bad game and decide to change everything. And there have been some bad games under these rules. There will always be bad games. But that's how we will proceed.”
