TYRONE ace Niall Morgan has warned that prohibiting goalkeepers from going forward would be ‘a massive step backwards’ for Gaelic football.
As a key component of his side’s attacking threat, Morgan has epitomised the evolution of the modern keeper.
But the freedom afforded to the two-time All-Star and his peers could be in jeopardy amid scrutiny of the game’s new rules.
Morgan insisted: “If they stop the goalkeeper from going forward altogether, a number of goalkeepers would walk away.”
Under the enhancements introduced by the Football Review Committee, teams are required to keep a minimum of three outfield players in each half.
However, with goalkeepers permitted to join the play as a 12th man inside the opposition’s half, attacking teams can create an overload.
Derry boss Paddy Tally said the rule is ‘killing the game’ after watching Morgan help Tyrone to victory against the Oak Leafers in last month’s NFL opener.
Next time out, Tyrone were beaten by All-Ireland champions Armagh, for whom keeper Ethan Rafferty kicked 0-5.
But Morgan said: “The game has evolved so much over the last ten, 15, 20 years and I just think the changes that have been made have been positive in large ways.
“When there was a gale-force wind in Armagh and Ethan Rafferty kicked whatever amount of points against Tyrone, how people looked at that game and saw it as a negative, I just don’t know.”
Goalkeepers can now only receive a pass from a team-mate in their own half when both players are inside the large rectangle.
But if a rule were to be introduced that restricted keepers from straying beyond the vicinity of their goalmouth, Morgan believes it would deter players from taking up the position.
The Edendork man, who plays outfield for his club, said: “I genuinely don’t see where you’d get any enjoyment out of playing that role.
“At the end of the day, the game has developed so much. It has moved forward and I think making a drastic change like that would just pull it back so much.
“We’re seeing young lads now wanting to be a goalkeeper, wanting to be wearing the different colour jersey, wanting to wear goalkeeping gloves and I think telling them they have to stay on the line would just regress the game so much.
“That’s where a massive fear of mine lies. I think I made that sort of clear whenever the rules were only being made. I sort of felt they were changing us back a wee bit.
“I think the rule change has actually been really positive because it has stopped that lateral passing in your own half.
“There’s probably some goalkeeper sitting somewhere going, ‘Please, just let me stay back because I don’t want to [go outfield], I’m happy to be an out-and-out goalkeeper.’
“But if it’s an advantage for a team to have somebody that can do both roles, then why would you take that away?”
As for the suggestion that a goalkeeper’s foray into opposing territory affords his team a numerical advantage, Morgan feels it is disingenuous.
NEW FRUSTRATION
He explained: “It’s probably frustrating for me because people are now calling it the 12-v-11 rule.
“For starters, it’s not a rule that the keeper has to come up. And it’s also 12-v-12. It’s no different to last year when it was 15-v-15.
“Now that the teams are leaving three up and three back, magically a player on the team is disappearing.
“A friend of mine keeps texting me, saying, ‘When is the team that’s defending going to push their keeper out?’”
Morgan added that the new rules have placed additional demands on goalkeepers to ensure that their fitness is up to scratch.
The 33-year-old revealed: “Against Cork last year in the Championship, I would have thought that I came out a lot but against Derry I did three kilometres more in the game and my high-speed running was about four times what it was last year.
“I used to always say that I was going to go back to nets for the club to prolong my career. Now I’m thinking about staying outfield to prolong my career!”
