Aidan O’Shea is mad as hell about the GAA’s latest rule tinkering

Aidan O'Shea is unlikely to ever feature at GAA Congress.

If he did, perhaps there would be too much honesty for the grey gentlemen that normally populate the annual talking shop from the mouth of the Breaffy club man. He may have blanked out his own brief experience of a key rule change in 2010, describing his performances at the time as "shit", but O'Shea has once again slammed the GAA for the introduction of the 'mark' from next season. The Congress decision to change the playing rules of football stunned the Mayo half-forward last month, and he took to Twitter to raise his opposition. The rule, which was trialled six years ago in the league but then abandoned, has caused a huge amount of controversy. The 25-year-old feels those who support have no idea what its true impact will be.

"Will it achieve what they want to, first of all? I don’t think it will. “I think it will actually take bigger players out of the game. I think there will be less big players on the pitch because Stephen Cluxton will kick the ball short and if he wants to get a mark he’ll kick it to a speedy wing forward. “Jarlath Burns is saying we are going to go out and catch the ball seven feet up in the air, I don’t think that’s going to happen."

O'Shea's frustration was echoed by several other inter-county players, such as Alan Brogan, while some footballers felt it would be a positive for Gaelic football. O'Shea is angry that the GAA feel the constant need to tamper with football, but often leave hurling as it is.

"I just don’t see why there is a need for changing the rules. Who said that we need, like, what was wrong? Why was the mark brought in like? “The way it was brought in was just wrong as well. You can’t just make a decision at Congress and people wave a f**king flag and see, let’s bring that in, I think it’s a good idea. I just think it’s a big change to a game. I’m confident the game is in a good place. I just think we like to change things for the sake of changing them. Just play the game and stop giving out about it. "It’s a real Gaelic football thing, not a hurling thing. When was the last time we changed a rule in hurling? If somebody said, ‘Jesus, let’s make the sliotar heavier because they are throwing the ball over from 80 yards' - then people would scream, like the hurlers would go mental."

O'Shea was only just breaking into the Mayo senior side when the GAA experimented with the mark in 2010. He feels that a pre-season competition would have been the ideal base to try the rule change, rather than a blanket introduction as agreed last month in Carlow.

"Put it on trial; put it on the FBD League games. Analyse it, see what the result was, was the objective set out at the start - did it work? “How many more balls were caught like? I know they put it in some minor Leinster League. Did anybody ever see any of those games? No.

Those in favour of the 'mark' often use the example of how successful it is in the AFL as well as the International Rules series each year. Speaking ahead of his appearance on tonight's AIB-backed The Toughest Trade, O'Shea disagrees, saying that the idea of the mark in those sports, and the mentality that goes with them, is different to what has actually been written into rule.

"In our game, we like to spoil a lot more, whereas, in the International Rules, you’ll find the Aussies, through arrogance or not, they think they are going to out-catch you. “So they’re going to try and spoil me, they are going to go up and try to catch the ball with you."

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