All you need to know about the potential GAA rule changes

Football Review Committee chairman Jim Gavin has published his final report into the rules of the game.

Throughout the course of the 2025 season the wonderful world of Gaelic Games underwent a dramatic set of revolutionary rule changes as set out by the Football Review Committee (FRC).

At the end of it all, it was still the men from the 'Kingdom of Kerry' who lifted the Sam Maguire Cup for a record-extending 39th time.

Ahead of the 2026 season, many of those trial rule changes are set to become permanent, a few more are set to be tweaked, while changes may be coming down the tracks, so let's dig into what may become the 'new norm' on fields across Ireland and beyond.

What has been recommended to stay?

The one v one throw-in is one of the rules the FRC have recommended to be made permanent.

To no great surprise, many of the core rule enhancements laid out by the FRC prior to the 2025 championship have been recommended by the body to be made permanent at the GAA's Special Congress next month.

That means the one v one throw-ins we've become accustomed at the start of a half will be the norm, with one from each side battling for it before anyone else can get involved, but early movement will be penalised.

Kick-outs will still be taken from the 20m line and must travel beyond the 40m arc before any player can touch them. This, in the eyes of many, cuts out the short kick-out option and has proven to be an incentive on pushing up on your opponents' kick-out.

It was evident in this year's All-Ireland quarter-final as Kerry dominated the Armagh kick-out and were able to hit 14 scores without reply in just a 13-minute period.

On the subject of goalkeepers, they'll still not be able to receive a pass from a team-mate in their own half unless both inside the small rectangle.

Teams will still have to keep at least three players in their opposition's half and four in their own (including the goalkeeper). If the netminder joins the attack in the opposition half, his team will still have to keep four outfield players in their own half.

The 40m scoring arc with two points for a score from outside and one from inside has been recommended to stay, as has the 50m penalty for tactically delaying a team taking a free, the 'solo and go', the advanced mark and the sounding of the hooter to end each half, but more on that one below.

What rules have been tweaked?

The introduction of the hooter to end each half and two point scores have revolutionised football.

In their final report, the FRC has recommended the hooter system would revert back to the original proposal.

Currently, once the hooter sounds to signal the end of a half, play continues until the ball goes dead.

This has been criticised in some quarters as teams have opted to retain possession in the minutes leading up to the hooter to ensure they have what is essentially a 'free play' once it sounds.

Real interest in this was generated at the end of the first half of this year's All-Ireland final as Kerry held possession until after the hooter and David Clifford fired over a two-pointer to ensure the champions elect ended the half on a high.

The FRC have recommended the sounding of the hooter would signal the end of a half unless the ball is in flight or a free, 45 or sideline is about to be taken.

The FRC have also recommended a tweak to the scoring system, allowing a two-pointer to stand in cases where an opponent touches the ball in flight after it is kicked from outside the 40m arc.

Currently, if a shot from outside the 40m arc the ball gets even the faintest of touches inside, only one point is awarded rather than two - harsh and pretty confusing to those in attendance.

What changes may come down the line?

The awarding of four points for a goal will be kept under review by the FRC for the 2026 season.

The first thing to note is none of these are up for debate next month to be introduced for next season, but their merits will be examined and may be recommended at some stage.

The final FRC report stands at just the 144 pages but a deep dive throws up a few potential adaptations which will be evaluated across the 2026 season and thankfully for you, I have cut it down to the most noteworthy.

The big one is the FRC believe the scoring of a goal should be worth four points rather than the current awarding of three points. That change isn't on the table for now but it may come down the line in order to 'balance the scoring system' in line with the two point arc.

An 'over and back' rule has been discussed, meaning that once a team brings the ball into the opposition's half, they cannot take it back into their own without being penalised.

Currently a sideline ball has to be kicked back into play, but introducing a 'solo and go' option once a ball goes out has been floated in order to speed things up.

The idea of not allowing scores from a hand or fist pass is also to be examined - purists rejoice.

Also, the late arrival of a team back the field after half-time (mind games and all of that) may be acted upon by the referee by cancelling the throw-in and awarding a free to the opposition on the half-way line, a considerable penalty for those with poor timekeeping.

Finally (I promise) from U15 football and below, the FRC want to see every hand pass in a game followed by a foot pass to cut down on the amount of hand passing with the next generation.

When will all of this be decided?

A meeting of the GAA's Special Congress on 4 October at Croke Park will see a vote taken to individually decide which or all of these rule changes outlined above are made permanent for the 2026 season and beyond.