Referees were issued with a new directive ahead of last weekend’s Round Three Allianz National Football League games, stating that goalkeepers should only get in and around 20 seconds to hit a kickout.

This arose from a meeting between the Football Review Committee (FRC) and the referee’s panel last week.

The referees were informed of it, but it seems players and managers weren't officially told, let alone the public.

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Over the weekend a number of teams were penalised for goalies taking too long with their kickouts, which led to the opposition being awarded a 13 metre free in front of the posts - a fairly draconian punishment, considering it seems that not many were aware of this tweak.

One of those penalised was Galway's Conor Gleeson, who appeared to take pretty much bang on 20 seconds for a restart.

This is another tricky judgement call for referees to add to what they're already facing under the new rules.

RTE pundit Peter Canavan - a Football Review Committee (FRC) member - was on Sunday Sport at the weekend, where he explained what went on last week when he faced questions from host Joanne Cantwell.

Canavan ultimately concluded that players and managers should have been notified of the change by the GAA, and that it wasn’t the job of Jim Gavin, the National Match Officials Manager Brian Smyth, or the FRC.

The GAA have faced criticism for a number of issues over the past few weeks, including referees having no rule book for Round One of the League and some counties being sent a different version of the rules to the referees.

Everyone expected teething difficulties with the sheer volume of rule changes involved and the amount of technicalities around offences.

The solo and go, which while speeding up the game has proved tricky as it involves a lot of judgement calls in where it's taken from, how quickly it's taken, when you can tackle, what direction you can run and who can take it.

That's a lot for referees to adjudicate on.

Also, players seem to be getting confused with the kick out mark and the solo and go, another tricky one for referees to adjudicate on.

In Meath’s win over Down, Ronan Jones clearly kicked from well inside the 40 metre arc for a one point score for the Royals, but referee Sean Lonergan and his umpires gave it as a two pointer, despite the Tipp official being right on the spot.

It’s very likely that Lonergan, and other referees, are simply following their habit of a lifetime, and looking at the flight of the ball to help their umpires adjudicate whether the ball went over the bar or wide, rather than looking to see where a player kicked from.

Breaking these habits of a lifetime will take time, but it doesn't help that the new directive on kickouts wasn't made public by the GAA.

Peter Canavan, who joined the FRC along with referee Maurice Deegan after Michael Murphy and Malachy O’Rourke left to concentrate on Donegal and Tyrone respectively, said: “Since I have been brought in, I have seen nothing but honest endeavour from a group of men who are doing things for the betterment of the GAA in their own time.

“Jim Gavin has been very transparent with us. He has a lot on his plate. I accept there are communication issues and there are a number of obstacles.

“In the GAA to get things down, things move slowly and there are a lot of processes and a lot of committees to get through before we get all these rules verified for Championship.

“But there was a meeting that took place last week. The FRC met the referees panel and there was a debate on the length of time it was taking goalkeepers to kick the ball out.

“Again, it was probably one of the unintended consequences of the new rules because a lot of people assumed that the fact the goalkeeper doesn’t have to wait on everybody to get out (outside the 20 metre line and ‘D’), there would be quicker kickouts.

“That hasn’t transpired. Because so many kickouts are going long, he (the goalkeeper) is taking his time and at times maybe 30, 40 seconds to kick it out.

“I am led to believe there was a consensus with FRC members and the referees that were there (at the meeting), that there should be in and around 20 seconds.

“So, as far as I am aware, that guideline was issued by the head of referees, Donal Smyth to the referees.

“So the referees were aware of that, but I don’t think the inter-county managers or players were aware of that. There were two frees given because of time wasting and it resulted in two 13 metre frees.

“I don’t believe that it’s Jim Gavin or the FRC. It’s not Donal Smyth’s job as head of the referees to contact the inter-county managers after he issues guidance to the referees.

“Likewise, if he issued guidance to referees, I don’t think it’s up to Jim Gavin to follow up on that and get in touch. There’s a wider issue here for games administration to get into. I agree there should have been a notification.

“Players and managers, be it through the County Board or directly through inter-county managers, should have been notified. I’m not too sure that should be laid at the foot of the FRC.”

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