Extract from Chapter 7: ‘The Gaelic game’ | Gaelic football takes shape
Back on the field, Gaelic football was beginning to take shape. The Gaelic Athletic Association adjusted its rules, hoping to reduce violence and create a more free-flowing game. Some points had been clarified in 1888: players could not throw the ball, but could catch it, or hit it with the hand, and free kicks were to be awarded for fouls. Additionally, if a defender put the ball out of play over his team’s goal line, the opposition would get a free kick 40 yards from the goal (this was changed to 50 yards in 1895).
During his spell in office in the mid-1890s, Dick Blake pressed for the rules to be made even more specific, believing them to be ‘crude and imperfect and unworthy of the GAA’. Blake was an unashamed soccer and rugby fan, willing to adopt some features of those codes if it would help to improve the Irish game.
The number of players in a team, having previously been anything from 14 to 21, was fixed at 17 in 1895; it would be reduced to 15, the present number, in 1913. From 1896, substitutions could be made without needing the opposing captain’s approval. Whereas points initially counted only as tie-breakers, a rule introduced in 1895 made a goal worth five points, with results determined by total points. A year later, a goal was devalued to three points, another rule that has remained unchanged. From here onwards, scores would be written in a ‘goals–points’ format: for example, ‘2–5’ would mean 2 goals and 5 points, giving a total of 11, calculated as (2 × 3) + 5. The first explicit rule on ball-carrying was also published in 1895, stating that the ball could be held for no more than four steps, and for no longer than was ‘necessary to kick or fist it away’.
From 1892 onwards, clubs taking part in All-Ireland tournaments were allowed to select players from other clubs in their counties. Gradually, the teams would evolve into representative county sides, particularly when county boards began to take control of selection.
Dublin and Cork clubs dominated All-Ireland football in the early years, with Dublin Young Irelands winning the 1891, 1892 and 1894 titles. The last of these was won by default: the Dubliners walked off the pitch after an invasion by spectators in a replay at Thurles, and their opponents, the Nils club from Cork, refused to take part in another replay. It was the second consecutive All-Ireland final to end in disarray, a reflection of the slightly chaotic state of affairs in the GAA’s formative years. Until well into the 1920s, it was quite normal for a final to take place the year after the tournament had started, or even two years afterwards.
During his spell in office in the mid-1890s, Dick Blake pressed for the rules to be made even more specific, believing them to be ‘crude and imperfect and unworthy of the GAA’. Blake was an unashamed soccer and rugby fan, willing to adopt some features of those codes if it would help to improve the Irish game.
The number of players in a team, having previously been anything from 14 to 21, was fixed at 17 in 1895; it would be reduced to 15, the present number, in 1913. From 1896, substitutions could be made without needing the opposing captain’s approval. Whereas points initially counted only as tie-breakers, a rule introduced in 1895 made a goal worth five points, with results determined by total points. A year later, a goal was devalued to three points, another rule that has remained unchanged. From here onwards, scores would be written in a ‘goals–points’ format: for example, ‘2–5’ would mean 2 goals and 5 points, giving a total of 11, calculated as (2 × 3) + 5. The first explicit rule on ball-carrying was also published in 1895, stating that the ball could be held for no more than four steps, and for no longer than was ‘necessary to kick or fist it away’.
From 1892 onwards, clubs taking part in All-Ireland tournaments were allowed to select players from other clubs in their counties. Gradually, the teams would evolve into representative county sides, particularly when county boards began to take control of selection.
Dublin and Cork clubs dominated All-Ireland football in the early years, with Dublin Young Irelands winning the 1891, 1892 and 1894 titles. The last of these was won by default: the Dubliners walked off the pitch after an invasion by spectators in a replay at Thurles, and their opponents, the Nils club from Cork, refused to take part in another replay. It was the second consecutive All-Ireland final to end in disarray, a reflection of the slightly chaotic state of affairs in the GAA’s formative years. Until well into the 1920s, it was quite normal for a final to take place the year after the tournament had started, or even two years afterwards.