GPA want talks over rules rage

THE GPA is on a collision course with the GAA over the raft of rule changes in Gaelic football.

Following Saturday’s Central Council, five new rules will be trialled in the pre-season competitions which get underway next month and the 2019 Allianz League.

But, according to an RTE report, the GPA is calling for the rules to be tested only in the pre-season tournaments and not the League, given the weight that so many counties now place on the competition.

GPA chief executive Paul Flynn has reportedly written to the GAA seeking an “urgent” meeting on the matter.

The five rules centre around limiting handpass chains to three and introducing an advanced mark as well as a sin bin, forcing sideline kicks to go forward and having kickouts taken from the 20m line, after a much more radical overhaul of the kickout was initially proposed.

In terms of most disruptive rule changes, the GPA recently carried out a survey from which it emerged that 96 per cent of those polled were against the restriction on the handpass, with 54 per cent in favour of the mark.

However, all five were waved through at Saturday’s meeting, at which the GPA was represented by its chairman Seamus Hickey, and will be trialled in the GAA’S secondary competition as things stand.

The GAA’S Standing Committee for Playing Rules, which framed the five new rules, numbers GPA president David Collins among its membership.

PRESENT GPA chairman Hickey was at meeting

URGENT Dubs ace Flynn wants meeting with GAA