Group chair John Meyler is keen for some of the game’s top intercounty players to road test the new rules in front of a large audience

An interprovincial hurling exhibition is set to be staged in Thurles at the end of November to shine a national spotlight on the trial rules.

A series of experimental rules are to be trialled in the GAA’s Higher Education Division One league this month – starting with Tuesday night’s fixture between UCD and Maynooth University.

There will be four more third-level games on Thursday night and data will be collected from matches over the coming weeks before any decisions are made on which, if any, of the trial rules might be brought forward to next year’s Congress.

And the Hurling Expert Advisory Group – chaired by former Wexford and Cork manager John Meyler – are keen for some of hurling’s top intercounty players to road-test the rules in competitive fare while showcasing them to a wider audience, so plans are afoot to host two interprovincial games, either on Friday, November 27th or Saturday, November 28th, in Semple Stadium.

Meyler is currently in negotiations with RTÉ to broadcast the games live.

The Football Review Committee organised an interprovincial tournament at Croke Park in October 2024 to test their rule enhancements. Arising from those games, the FRC decided to abandon plans to increase the worth of a goal to four points – though that particular alteration is now again under consideration by Kevin McStay’s committee.

“We need to get the games out to the public and the more exposure we get the better,” said Meyler when asked about the possibility of an interprovincial series.

“Please God we’ll get the games on the 27th or 28th of November; that’s what I’m discussing with RTÉ at the moment and we’ll use [the gate receipts] for charity for the Dillon Quirke Foundation. We’re just trying to get everything lined up.”

Former Wexford camogie player Ursula Jacob is a member of the HEAG and she believes the more aware hurling fans are of the rules the better informed the committee will be at the end of the trial window.

“I do think the education piece is crucial because people are making certain assumptions about the trial rules without seeing the games taking place,” she said.

“So the more people get to see the rules being applied, the more understanding there will be on what works and what doesn’t.”

Among the trial rules on show in the third-level games this month is the prohibiting of consecutive handpasses, an increase inthe number of steps permitted from four to six, 65s to be taken from inside a team’s own half of the field and the awarding of two points for a converted sideline cut.

The proposals also include a stipulation that three players from each team must remain between the 45m and 20m lines for puckouts and an increase in the number of steps permitted in possession from four to six, while all handpasses will require a clear and definite striking action.

Within the committee’s extensive 170-page interim report, there is also a recommendation to penalise the spare arm tackle. Under the trials, it will now be a foul to “hold an opponent with the hand(s) or arm(s).”

William Maher, who is the GAA’s National Head of Hurling and also a member of the HEAG, says proposals on tackling and increasing the number of steps are efforts to try avoid the proliferation of rucks developing in games.

“[We wanted] to tackle the spare arm tackle so that players are able to release the ball without being held, that wasn’t in the rule book previously so we’ve put that in now,” explained Maher.

“And we will see if it has an effect on avoiding that melee, ruck area.

“[The same with the steps], we’re trying to see can we get around that piece to avoid rucks, avoid poor tackling, avoid poor execution of handpasses and get more striking ultimately when players get to the open grass.

“Will there be unintended consequences? Possibly, but we want to trial it and see what will happen with six steps. But the main point is to try get around the ruck area and players getting tackled on the fourth step.”

Line umpires will now have more power by acting as ‘assistant referees’ to help the official in the middle of the field.

“We speak about referees as a team of officials,” said Meyler. “We want the team to work together – the three match officials (referee and the two line umpires), the fourth official and four umpires – so effectively we have eight people refereeing a game of hurling.

“American Football has seven, ice hockey three, basketball two, we have eight – so it’s a massive effort from a team there.

“We had romantic ideas at the start and said we’d go with two referees, one in each half of the pitch. There was a certain amount of debate on that issue and what we settled on – maybe because of a shortage of referees and a shortage of referee experience – is that we’d give the line umpires a half each.”