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On this page The 11 proposed GAA rule changes
New GAA rules: the changes on trial for 2027
The next round of new GAA rules is being tested, not decided. The Football Expert Advisory Group, chaired by Kevin McStay, is weighing 11 changes and trialling 10 of them in 15 college games this autumn, among them a four-point goal and a limit of three hand-passes in a row. McStay expects to know by mid-January which go forward, with the aim of using them in the 2027 League before Congress votes in February.
Checked on . None of the changes below is a rule yet. The rules in force are those of the 2026 Official Guide. Last updated on .
The 11 proposed GAA rule changes
The group set out its list at Croke Park on 30 September, and its chair was clear about the bar: "the threshold for change would be very high", and anything put to Congress "must add value to the game as it's currently constituted" (GAA.ie). Here is each proposal next to the rule it would replace.
| Proposal | The rule now |
|---|---|
| Goal worth four points | Three points |
| No more than three hand-passes in a row | No limit |
| No fisted or open-hand points unless the ball is in flight | A point may be scored with the open hand or fist |
| Kick-outs only need to travel 13 metres | Must pass the 40m arc and the 20m line |
| Over and back: once a team is in the opposition half, no playing the ball back into its own half | No restriction, apart from passing back to the goalkeeper |
| The 40m arc extended to the end-line | Marked only outside the 20m line |
| Six substitutes | Five in normal time |
| At least a black or red card for every aggressive foul that denies a goal chance in the scoring zone | Black card and penalty for pull-downs, trips, deliberate collisions, holding up and jersey pulls that deny one |
| Illegal challenge inside the 4m space of a player who has taken a kick-out mark: free moved 50m, and it can be taken from outside the arc | A free from where the foul occurred if the player plays on; the 50m advance, with the option to kick from outside the arc, already applies when opponents block or impede the mark free (Rule 4.16) |
| 13m free for dissent or abuse from a backroom team member; a free for a 4/3 breach can be taken from outside the arc for two points | Already a free on the 13m line, or from the top of the arc for two points, for dissent, abuse or disruptive conduct by a team official. A 4/3 breach away from the ball is a free from the 20m line that can already be taken from outside the arc (Rule 4.36) |
| Sideline kick with at least one foot on or behind the line | Taken from outside the line |
Proposals as listed by GAA.ie on 30 September 2026. The rules now: Official Guide Part 2, 2026 edition (GAA rule book). The six-substitute idea is not part of the college trials, which already allow unlimited changes.
The two at the top are the ones people talk about. A three-handpass limit is not a new idea either: it was tried in 2019 and abandoned, a point McStay answered by saying the trials now take place in the post-FRC era, "a completely different game to if we were trialling it in 2019" (Balls.ie).
Why a four-point goal?
McStay's case is arithmetic. Good free-takers expect to land four of five kicks from just outside the arc, and two two-pointers already beat the value of a goal. "I don't think that's where we want to be with the two-pointer," he said. He calls the goal the most important moment in the game, and wants fast attacks rewarded. The idea is not new: the Football Review Committee proposed it in 2024, dropped it before its final package, and it was used in the 2024 interprovincial semi-finals and final (RTÉ).
Our own count of the championship backs up the premise. In 2026 two-pointers were worth 10.9 points a game and goals 8.7, in the 49 games where both scorer lines check out, even though goals were up: 2.84 a game across all 56 games, against 2.09 a year earlier. The full numbers are in our two-point score statistics. The GAA's Games Intelligence Unit, in its own analysis of matches, has goals rising from 2.1 to 2.38 a game, as reported by RTÉ.
The numbersGoals are coming back, and the two-pointer still outscores them. That is the gap a four-point goal is meant to close.
The counter-argument is in the same trials. The group wants to see whether a run of four-point goals settles games too early, and the first 2024 interprovincial semi-final ran away from Leinster: Connacht led 4-20 to 0-9 after 61 minutes.
What the first trial games showed
The trials run in the Ryan Cup, the Higher Education Division 1 league, where the inter-county referees' panel has offered to officiate. One month in, the four-point goal is the rule getting the warmest reception.
"Four points for a goal, brilliant. It really encourages teams to go for goals," said Ciarán Kilkenny, the former Dublin player now managing TUD, after their last Ryan Cup game. He was against the hand-pass limit, saying counting passes "can go against their instinct", and wants to know which rules will apply in the Sigerson Cup in January (RTÉ).
Ethan Dunne, the Dublin midfielder who plays for DCU, said much the same in The Irish Times: the four-point goal "adds a bit of value", the hand-pass limit he does not see the need for. DCU did not break the limit in either of the two games the paper reported on, and in one of them played 1.5 hand-passes for every kick-pass (The Irish Times). The figure the group is trying to bring down is 3.8 to 5.3 hand-passes per kick-pass, depending on the competition (GAA.ie).
Two teams and a handful of games are not a verdict. The group has said it will not change any rule mid-competition, so what it sees in the Ryan Cup is what it will judge.
When could new Gaelic football rules come in?
- October and November 2026: 15 Higher Education Division 1 games under the trial rules.
- After the trials: the group pauses, reviews the data and picks what goes forward. McStay: "I think maybe five or six will get through."
- January 2027: selected rules road-tested at inter-county level, in the provincial pre-season competitions. McStay expects to know by mid-January what goes forward.
- 2027 National League: the aim is to use whatever survives from the start of the League.
- February 2027: formal motions to Congress.
GAA.ie 30 September 2026; The Irish Times 1 October 2026; Balls.ie 30 September 2026.
Until any of that happens, every game is played under the 2026 rules.
What GAA rules changed for 2026
The last big set of changes is already in force. The Football Review Committee's rules were trialled through 2025, a Special Congress passed all 62 motions on 4 October 2025, and they became permanent on 1 January 2026. The two-point arc, the rule keeping four players back and three outfield players forward, the Solo and Go and kick-outs that must clear the 40m arc all came in through that process. The February 2026 Annual Congress left the playing rules of the game alone; its one football change was a replay for drawn Tier 1 provincial senior finals.
Every one of those changes, set against the 2024 rule book, is in the table on our Gaelic football rules page, and the cynical fouls that now draw a black card are on our black card page.
New LGFA rules 2026
Ladies football made its own move this year. An LGFA Special Congress in Tullamore on the evening of 15 April 2026 approved the 12 rules it had trialled in the National League and the colleges competitions. Six mirror the men's game, among them the kick-out mark, the two-point arc, three players kept in the opposition half, the Solo and Go and frees brought forward for tactical fouling or sideline dissent. The other six are the LGFA's own, including changes to the tackle (HoganStand).
They applied at once to adult inter-county championships and to adult club championships in 2026. Juvenile inter-county competitions and the All-Ireland Under-20 championship follow in 2027, as does every competition from under-13 up.
Frequently asked questions
Is the four-point goal coming in?
Not yet. It is being trialled in the Ryan Cup, and it would need to survive the review, inter-county testing and a Congress vote. If it does, the earliest it could appear is the 2027 League.
When will the 2027 GAA rule changes be decided?
The Expert Advisory Group expects to know by mid-January 2027 what it is taking forward. Formal motions would go to Congress in February 2027.
Did Congress change the football rules in 2026?
Not the playing rules. Those came from the Special Congress of October 2025; the February 2026 Annual Congress only added a replay for drawn Tier 1 provincial senior finals.
Has a three-handpass limit been tried before?
Yes, in 2019, when it was abandoned. It is back on trial in the Ryan Cup.