Recent changes to the handpass rule in the hurling sport have led to participants choosing a stick pass over a handpass. The proportion became eight stick passes for every handpass, a striking increase from the 2023 All-Ireland senior hurling championship’s 1.5 stick passes for each handpass. These findings are from an extensive study conducted by Gaelic Stats for the GAA’s Standing Committee on Playing Rules, examining the tentative rules showcased in third-level matches.
Two new rules were tested at the Higher Education’s Freshers Division One Hurling Leagues at the end of the previous year. Initially, a puckout could only be played by another defending team player if it travelled beyond the near 45m line. The penalty was a throw-in on the defender’s 20m line in front of the goal. Secondly, players had three ways to redefine the handpass: play the sliotar away with the hand opposite to the one holding the ball; bounce it off the hurley using the original ball-holding hand; play the sliotar with the opposite hand after bouncing it off the hurley. The penalty in this case was a free-kick from the spot of the infraction.
Gaelic Stats, one of the leading sports data firms studying Gaelic sports, gathered data from nine games between October and December. One distinct trend that emerged was that players tended to choose stick passes, with an average per game standing at 170 stick passes compared to 21 handpasses.
The report implies that players started favouring stick passes to avoid fouls for incorrect handpassing, driven by the newly implemented rule. Typically, situations where handpasses were expected saw higher occurrences of short stick passes. It’s worth mentioning, however, that comparing Freshers hurling with the senior intercounty match has limitations due to differences in match lengths: college fixtures of 60 minutes versus senior intercounty games of 70 minutes.
Gaelic Stats utilised intel from 187 intercounty matches between 2016 and 2023 to evaluate the Freshers hurling, as specific data does not exist. Through this analysis, 190 correct technique handpasses were noted, with a successful retention rate of 88% by the team in possession. During the All-Ireland SHC 2023, a 95% handpass retention rate was found.
Within the trial matches, 25 fouls were conceded due to incorrect ball throwing during a handpass attempt. Additionally, analysts observed another seven fouls that went unnoticed. This reveals that 15% (which equates to 32 out of 215) handpasses were judged as fouls.
More than 1,580 stick passes with a 71% success rate were recorded, where ball possession was maintained by the striking team. During the All-Ireland SHC 2023, 67% of all stick passes were held by the possession team.
Considering these findings, particularly relating to the handpass: stick pass ratio, there seems to be a good argument for further testing of the handpass technique, as it fosters increased use of the hurley. Nevertheless, there’s an ongoing debate on whether the handpass issues are significant enough to warrant a significant shift in the game rules.
Analyzing the puckout experiment, demanding the sliotar be hit beyond the 45-metre marker, 98% of the 483 analyses managed to meet this target. This contrasted with the recent trend at intercounty level which mostly uses short clearances. In 2016, 16% puckouts were within the 45-metre limit of the goalkeeper, and by 2023 this had risen to 29%.
Considering the 483 puckouts in the Freshers matches, 52% were maintained by the possessing team. In the 2023 championship, there were more short restarts by goalkeepers leading to a retention rate of 67%. An inevitable outcome of compelling goalkeepers to execute long puckouts is an intensifying competition for possession around the central third, which was evident.
In the practice matches, a significant 78% of puckouts were fought for, demonstrating a distinct increase from the 44% witnessed in the previous year’s All-Ireland SHC. The preceding figure reflects a total of 69 successful scores out of 326 challenged restarts.
An interesting outcome from the imposed necessity to deliver long puckouts was the eradication of the one-two restart strategy. This strategy typically involves the goalkeeper executing a short tap to a free defender, relocating from his goal to receive a swift return pass and then commonly propelling the ball downfield.
Contrastingly, the ball was reverted back to the goalkeeper on average just 1.4 times per game in the practice matches, primarily during ongoing play. This was significantly lower compared to the average of 6.2 times per game in the preceding year’s SHC.
The findings are currently held with the Central Council who will perform the task of deciding on the appropriate next steps in reference to the data received. These steps could potentially embrace either cease with the experimentation or further the trial for certain rules, maybe as late as 2024 or during the early preseason competitions occurring in 2025.