Parking the bus has stalled the engine
EX-CORK STAR LARRY SAYS DEFENSIVE FOOTBALL IS DRIVING GAA FANS AWAY
FORMER All-ireland winning Cork captain Larry Tompkins claims football has been “destroyed” by defensive tactics and that the public are rapidly losing interest.
The Rebels legend runs a pub in Cork City and revealed the amount of people watching live Gaelic football has nosedived compared to hurling which still pulls in the punters.
The back-to-back All-ireland medallist from 1989 and 1990 said rule changes are required as a matter of urgency to make football exciting again.
He reckons the GAA should insist on kick-outs travelling beyond the 45-metre line, to restore aerial contests at midfield, and outlaw back passes to goalkeepers.
He also believes all frees should be kicked from the ground, that the black card should be binned and mooted the idea of a rule keeping all six forwards in their attacking half, to curb blanket defending.
A hugely frustrated Tompkins said: “It comes down to this for me – do we want to watch football or do we want to watch machines?
“I find it very difficult to watch now. Bar Kerry and Dublin, and Mayo at times, who play a nice brand of football, it’s gone terrible to watch.
“I don’t know who is sitting around the table looking at the rules but it’s plain to see that football is being destroyed.
“It’s got to a point where football is a hugely tactical game with teams that bore all the people watching to tears. With the exception of the semi-finals or final, it’s largely that way now.
“We have the sports pub and loads of people, fierce GAA people, would hardly ask you to turn on the TV for a Gaelic football game any more. It’s different in hurling, they still love to watch that.”
Former Cork boss Tompkins, who managed Mitchelstown to a county junior title in 2013, added: “Those trends are changing in front of us.
“People say the crowds are still there and that’s probably true of counties like Mayo and Kildare who have great support and are crying out for their teams to win something.
“But I genuinely think a lot of people are turning away from football. It doesn’t have the battles and the confrontation that you had before.
“People will tell me, ‘You’re only jealous that you’re not still playing’. That’s not it at all.
“It’s a fact that football wasn’t meant to be about 14 players behind the ball, short kick-outs and endless hand passing.”
I genuinely think a lot of people are being turned off football