Gaelic football is in decline

A chara, – That there is widespread concern about how Gaelic football has been allowed to evolve is an undeniable fact (John Kelly, Letters, July 3rd).

Most people with whom I discus the sport admit that they now attend principally for the tribal reason of showing solidarity with their own club and county and community. Sadly it seems that going to a match for enjoyment and heathy social interaction has passed. Equally sadly, it is patently obvious that the essential historic skills of catching and kicking have been relegated to almost obscurity.

On Monday last I spoke with a former excellent club and college player who stated that if he had had his own car he would have left the Kerry versus Derry game at half time.

There is no point in seeking to remedy the present malaise in the game unless the plague of the almost non-stop hand passing is addressed. Superbly fit athletes, some of whom are also magnificent ball players – I refrain from saying footballers – can monopolise the play for minutes on end. Very frequently this hand passing is lateral or backwards. Trying to encourage high fielding and kicking by introducing such nonsense as the mark and of having four players always remaining in their own half of the field are poor sticking-plaster attempted remedies for a very dangerously bleeding wound.

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I believe that the hand pass should be totally removed from the game.

That will result in the arts of kicking, lateral, backwards or forward and high or low fetching becoming the defining skills of the game. Revert to giving the goalkeeper immunity from being tackled within the parallelogram.

The time for corrective action is most urgently now. Unless it is taken, the game of Gaelic football will continue to decline and a slow handclap in magnificent Croke Park will become a sad reality. –Yours, etc,

MICHAEL GLEESON,

(All-Ireland winner 1969, 1970),

Killarney,

Co Kerry.

Sir, – As a lifetime spectator of 60 years and a member of my local club, I totally agree with letter writer John Kelly.

There is another important issue that needs to be addressed: the timing of the championship. There are too many games in too short a time. I’m not a traditionalist, but I cannot understand how the GAA persists in playing the finals at the end of July .

I’ve been involved in education for many years and it’s been a joy to see the children playing tennis during Wimbledon in June and returning to school in September, with excitement about the All-Irelands coming up.

That’s all gone now.

I fully understand the point that the needs of players are paramount .

Yet let’s not forget the voice of the spectators, who are also the lifeblood of the GAA.

Sadly, if we continue to be ignored, we will vote with our feet. – Yours, etc,

JIM CAFFREY,

Dublin 16.