Armagh moment showed problem with GAA’s most disliked new rule

It is a much criticised new rule.

Tyrone defeated Armagh, 3-15 to 1-11, in the Ulster U20 Football Championship quarter-finals at O'Neill park yesterday.

It wasn't a game that received much fanfare, but a moment towards the end of the first half encapsulated all that is wrong with one of Gaelic football's most criticised new rules.

The 'solo-and-go' rule means that if a player calls a mark from a kick out or draws a foul, the opposition must allow the player to go four metres before touching him, and failing to do so results in a 50m penalty.

As seen in the clip below, posted by journalist Michael McMullan, after a Tyrone player calls a mark, the Armagh men back away from him rather quickly, but by the letter of the law it was not quick enough, and a very harsh 50m penalty was given.

Fans have been calling for more leniency from referees when applying the rule, and a decrease in the 50m to 13-20m.

Last month, Kerry boss Jack O'Connor criticised the rule.

He said: “Look, I’m happy enough. I’m not one of the lads that was jumping on the bandwagon and giving out about the rules – I think the rules have helped the game. You can’t get everything right.

“Now, I’m still not too enthused by having to hand the ball back to a fella, and then he scoots off by you because you can’t touch him for four yards, I just think that’s a bit unrealistic. I can’t figure out where that’s coming from.

“Somewhere down the line in a big game there’s going to be controversy over that because some fella’s going to get the ball and run into the fella that handed it to him and who’s going to decide then?

“We had a situation above in Salthill the last day where Paul Murphy got sent off for an absolutely mysterious black card. A Galway man ran into him and threw himself down on the ground.

“Now I don’t want to make a big deal out of that and I’m not pointing fingers but I’m just saying, calls like that in a big Championship game are going to cause consternation and I just see that handing the ball back to a fella and whatever, it’s very unrealistic.”