FRC Considering U-Turn On Divisive Gaelic Football Rule Change

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in GAA spheres who saw the sweeping Gaelic football rule changes as anything but a roaring success in 2025.

However, despite the rule "enhancements" resulting in one of the most riveting All-Ireland championships in years, there are still some elements of the rulebook to be finetuned ahead of 2026.

On Thursday, Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee published their final report on the success of the new-look Gaelic football.

Unsurprisingly, the FRC have recommended that Special Congress vote to confirm the enhancements as permanent additions to the football rulebook.

However, there are some minor adjustments to be made, and one of those has seen the FRC recommend further investigation as to whether four points for a goal should be introduced.

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A 144-page report was published by Gaelic football's Review Committee on Thursday, in which they overwhelmingly recommended that the rule enhancements be kept in place for 2026 and beyond.

One of the initial enhancements that was ultimately scrapped was increasing the value of a goal from three to four points, partly to balance the power of the newly introduced two-point score.

Though the FRC's final report acknowledges the calls for this "corrective measure," the committee also outlined their concerns over the potential imbalance created by the rule, particularly at lower levels than inter-county football:

There was also strong support in qualitative feedback for increasing the value of a goal to four points as a corrective measure. However, concerns remain about its potential to disrupt game balance, particularly in low-scoring contests, and to place undue pressure on defenders and goalkeepers.

This is especially relevant given that lower-tier and underage teams have struggled with conceding multiple goals early in mismatched fixtures, leading to “brutal scorelines.”

These insights suggest that while the proposal has merit, its implementation would require careful calibration to avoid unintended consequences.

Ultimately, no conclusive verdict was given on whether four-point goals should be trialled once again.

"Further analysis is required to evaluate the merits of awarding four points for a goal following the conclusion of the 2026 Inter-county season," reads the final recommendation from the Football Review Committee.

The four-point goal was one of several modifications trialled in a sandbox game shortly after this year's All-Ireland football final.

The Football Review Committee have confirmed seven modifications to the existing rule enhancements, with Special Congress set to discuss the proposals on October 4th.

Those modifications are:

• Penalising early movement by players before 1v1 throw-ins.
• Changing the kick-out mark delay penalty from a throw-in to a free kick.
• Clarifying enforcement of Solo and Go distance.
• Introducing a black card for jersey-pulling in goal-scoring situations.
• Extending penalty awards for cynical fouls in goal-scoring situations to club competitions.
• Clarifying conditions for 2-point scores when touched by the opposition.
• Empowering neutral sideline officials to report foul play.

Another fascinating line suggests that the FRC are considering banning fisted and hand-passed scores over the bar, a move that many have called for to further cement the new attacking face of Gaelic football.

We will likely never see so much change at once as we did at the outset of the 2025 Gaelic football season, but it appears that even more change may not be far around the corner.