'Time has come for you to act'

[BIGMAC]

'Time has come for you to act'


The GAA's whole disciplinary process is fast approaching anarchy and it's time for the GAA's director general Liam Mulvihill and president Nickey Brennan to call a Special Congress to address the issue head-on

An Open letter to Nickey Brennan and Liam Mulvihill
Gentlemen, Please don't misread this as an over-reaction to the discipline problems currently facing the GAA but, coming after the Clare-Cork affair in Thurles, the picture of a referee lying on the ground during a club game in Westmeath is alarming.

No doubt, the Irish Independent will be blamed for splashing it but there are worse things in life than being criticised for telling the truth. And the unpalatable truth now is that the lack of respect for discipline in the GAA represents a serious threat to the Association's future.

Perhaps, it's part of a wider disrespect for authority and as the largest sporting organisation in the country the GAA is more likely to be affected than others. However, that merely adds to its responsibilities.

Your concerns over the disciplinary problems in the GAA have been well-documented and nobody could possibly question your sincerity.

Liam, you have highlighted them repeatedly in your annual reports for more than 25 years. Nickey, you dealt with them in your time as Leinster Council chairman and have done your best in a difficult area since taking over as president.

The problem is that you are being let down by county officials who worship Janus, the two-headed god. They will look towards you and your struggle to uphold discipline when it suits them, but stare the other direction when it doesn't.

I don't know what the solution is, but here's a suggestion to start off a new peace process.

Call a Special Congress with one item on the agenda - discipline. Lay it on the line about the hypocrisy which currently exists whereby so many of those charged with implementing discipline seek loopholes when their own players are involved. Work through it, point out the consequences, demand answers.

There's an awful lot at stake on this one. All sports need sanctions to ensure that players behave themselves, but whereas suspensions are generally seen as the end of the process in other codes, they're very often only a starting point in the GAA.

In an era when image is important, it's unacceptable that the GAA is being depicted as a haven for rule-breakers - simply because those charged with upholding the regulations renege on their responsibility.

It's akin to Gardaí on a drink-driving checkpoint throwing away the samples of some of those who are over the limit.

Let the fightback begin with a hard-hitting Special Congress, followed by swift and decisive action.

Yours sincerely Martin Breheny GAA Editor

[BIGMAC]

Anarchy on the rise



IMAGINE if a school Board of Management drew up a disciplinary process for errant students, only to have it totally ignored by the teachers. It couldn't happen.


Imagine if the teachers, having contributed to the shaping of the disciplinary process, told students who got into trouble where to look for loopholes while also promising to defend them to the very end, irrespective of how badly they had behaved. It would be the end of the education system as we know it.

Yet that's exactly what's happening in the GAA where officials are pretending to sign up to disciplinary procedures, only to work unsparingly at dismantling them when their own county is involved.

It's utterly bizarre and is helping to contribute to the greatest crisis facing the GAA for a very long time.

This weekend almost 200,000 people will attend six provincial championship games. Well over one million more will watch four of them 'live' on RTE.

By the end of September over two million will have attended the championships as hurling and football pulse through the summer.

Beneath the high-profile inter-county layer is a busy, vibrant club scene, providing games and recreation for players of all standards.

Croke Park is a splendid monument to the GAA's vision, courage and business acumen, standing tall and stately against the north Dublin skyline.

Having opened its doors to rugby and soccer, it has increased its role way beyond being the spiritual home of Gaelic Games.

It is now a proud international ambassador for a new, ecumenically-minded Irish sporting public with the GAA as the leaders.

In theory then, the GAA has never been in a healthier state. In reality, it has never faced a bigger emergency, one that unless it's assessed, addressed and remedied will undermine the entire Association. Those comments guarantee allegations of melodramatic over-reaction and media hysteria.

However, ignoring it would also be a cowardly betrayal of principles, not to mention doing a great disservice to the GAA at a time when it is seriously threatened by the pernicious forces of anarchy.

The picture in yesterday's Irish Independent of a Westmeath referee lying prostrate on a pitch with a melee boiling all around him was a vivid reminder of the degree to which violence is eating into the GAA's core fabric.

It was one flashpoint among thousands of games that passed without trouble last weekend but unfortunately the number of 'isolated incidents' are increasing at an alarming rate.

Club championships are beginning to gain momentum all over the country, so are we to expect similar pictures and reports from other venues between now and next November? Last weekend in Wicklow alone, 15 players were sent off in six football championship games - all but two on straight red card offences.

It doesn't take superior intelligence to work out what's happening. Club players are influenced by what happens at county level and when the disciplinary system at the top is so poorly applied, it's logical that the fall-out down the line will be serious to the point of being dangerous.

It's not that the GAA don't have disciplinary procedures in place. They most assuredly do, but there's no respect for them. Why? Because if you push them far enough they will very often break under the sheer weight of pressure.

So too would rugby and soccer regulations, but they are very rarely tested to the limit because there's an acceptance that the spirit as well as the letter of the law has to apply if a process is to have credibility.

Isn't it extraordinary that professional, international sports can be governed by straight-forward strictures, yet an amateur sport in a small country has to have its rules and regulations virtually as tight as the Constitution?

Before the establishment of the Disputes Resolution Authority, a body that has done outstanding work, the popular route for those who refused to accept GAA discipline was to seek (and usually be granted) a Court injunction.

Some wealthy 'sympathisers' who had no difficulty bank-rolling Court challenges would baulk at funding an U-10 team, yet had no difficulty in cashing up for a trip to legal land. In many cases, the players involved were guilty of the offence as charged but sought relief on a minor technicality.

Once the injunction was granted, it cancelled the GAA's sanction for long enough to allow the player to line out in a certain game.

It totally usurped the GAA's disciplinary process but, never mind, it got our Johnny off, even if he didn't deserve it.

It led to a lack of respect for law and order, especially when the GAA's own disciplinary layers started to fall out with each other on technicalities.

As a result we had some bizarre consequences, such as all the Dublin and Tyrone players who had been involved in the Omagh brawl last year having their suspensions lifted.

It may not have looked important at the time but the reality is that every GAA player saw what happened that day and later noted how those involved escaped on technicalities.

It's pointless blaming Nickey Brennan, Liam Mulvihill or "that crowd up in Croke Park."

They're trying to uphold the regulations but with little support from further down in 'cute hoor' territory, it's virtually impossible.

County officials don't even blush when they promise to defend players to the absolute limits, irrespective of how clear the offence is.

Yet, they themselves are in charge of justice in their own counties and expect clubs to adhere to rules that they attempt to undermine where county players are concerned.

It's worse than cowardice, it's utter gutlessness.

In 2004, Waterford forward, John Mullane declined to go down the appeal route after being sent off in a Munster final and, as a result, missed the All-Ireland semi-final.

"You do the crime, you do the time," was his honest assessment.

Unfortunately, it was a one-off of courage in a blizzard of moral cowardice.

Last October, the GAA lectured, hectored and eventually broke off relationship with the Australians because of their behaviour in the second Test in Croke Park.

The irony was comical. Here was the GAA telling the world that the awful Australians had no respect for law and order.

Let's hope the AFL boys don't see the picture we carried here yesterday or that they don't hear about the Thurles bust-up before the Clare-Cork game, an incident where the inevitable and appropriate consequences led to Clare chairman, Michael McDonagh suggesting that they should withdraw from the All-Ireland championship.

What's he going to say to two clubs in his own county if they indulge in a similar introduction as they take the field for a championship game?

If Clare's disciplinary bodies impose suspensions, will he advise them to boycott the championship?

The list of inconsistencies extends way beyond Clare, but there's a common theme.

So much so, that there's only one conclusion to be reached - anarchy is nigh in the GAA - if it's not here already.

[BIGMAC]

We've heard all the pious talk before . .


"In the committee rooms we need to be united and we must be seen to be consistently in the application of justice. As well as out players, we have an image to protect'


GAA president

Sean McCague (April 2001)

'The most disappointing aspect to discipline is the extent to which clubs and counties go to defend their wrong-doers'

Liam Mulvihill (March 2006)

'The days of great escapes (from the GAA's disciplinary procedures) are over'

Outgoing president

Sean Kelly (April 2006)

'At the heart of much of our disciplinary problems is a clear lack of respect for our referees'

In-coming president

Nickey Brennan (April 2006)

'The idea that county officers who themselves are charged with administering the disciplinary system for their own clubs, should then use every avenue to enable a county player to escape on a technicality is bizarre'

Liam Mulvihill (March 2007)

'We continue to have an unacceptable level of misbehaviour in our games, particularly at club level and this cannot and will not be allowed be tolerated'

GAA president Nickey

Brennan (April 2007)

[BIGMAC]

Shocking attack on ref
GAA set to probe incident in Westmeath club game



Westmeath SF panelist, Paddy Martin, is restrained by his Ballymore team-mates after being sent off last Sunday, while match referee Tom Duffy is prostrate on the ground



THE GAA'S growing problem with indiscipline is in the spotlight again after a shocking attack on a referee in a Westmeath club match.


The latest shameful episode occurred in a Westmeath IFC fixture between Ballymore and Ballynacargy on Sunday last when county panelist Paddy Martin was involved in a clash with match referee Tom Duffy.

The flashpoint happened in the dying minutes of the keenly-contested encounter which was eventually won 0-13 to 0-12 by Martin's team Ballymore.

According to an eyewitness, referee Duffy awarded Ballymore a free shortly before the end of the game, which Martin elected to take. As often happens in similar situations, Martin was taking his time to compose himself and waited, but as he prepared to take the kick, the referee informed him that couldn't delay any longer.

The local Athlone Voice newspaper reported that the drama then unfolded as Martin was ordered off the field.

Soon after, Martin was alleged to have confronted the match official who ended up on the ground (as pictured above).

Despite the incident, referee Duffy did not abandon the match. The Moate clubman eventually rose to his feet and after getting some attention, he stayed officiating until the end.

It now seems certain Martin will be disciplined over the incident. It remains to be seen if he will be charged with minor physical interference on a referee which carries a 12-week ban, or if he faces the more serious Category Five offence which has a minimum 48-week suspension.

When contacted about the matter, the Westmeath County Board said they were precluded about making a comment because of a recently-issued directive relating to such situations by the DRA.

Despite several attempts, referee Duffy was not answering any calls on his mobile phone last night.

According to a Westmeath official, the county's Competitions' Control Committee (CCC) will decide to convene a meeting as soon as they receive the report of the ref.

Martin, who is in his early 30s, has been an "on-and-off" member of the Westmeath panel for a number of years and generally plays at midfield. According to a source, he is a "quiet lad"

Duffy is one of the most experienced refs in Westmeath.

- Paddy Hickey

[BIGMAC]

how many more posts like this will we see before the gaa stand up and be counted.its time to end the waste of time appeals and take ur punishment like men instead of hiding like snakes behind the legal eagles,we have to support the refs no matter how much we dilike a decision that goes against us.the situation is fast becoming a total farce

[austinstacksabu]

We'll see thousands BIG.......the GAA have an uncanny ability to protect their own, and every committee has somebody who knows somebody etc.

[JOAN]

I think the GAA have to deal with the raising problems alright. It has to start at underage and be very strict there. Agree players and club should that the punishment as its handed down and for strikings offenses should not be allowed to appeal. As for attacks on Refs linesmen and umpires it requires a harsher punishment. Has to been done. I an however totally against the Media involvement and don't think they should be judge and jury. They seem to be fueling a fire that really has to be dealt with by GAA only. The punishment does not always fit the rime and I agree connections are every place. But The GAA have to find the solution and the media need to continue reporting on the games

[simon78]

but how cum all of a sudden dis discipline problem has arised r woz it always there but as u said joan d media wasnt invovled,another incident dis wk in north kerry where a trainer was struck by a player,i dunno ye're views but i tink tis appaling,trainers who dont get paid may i add an prob costin dem money,go out an head away 4m der're families an den 2get attacked well d buck has to stop sumwhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mickmack]

We all love to see discipline applied in the GAA ...........................as long as it doesnt apply to OUR team

[simon78]

well it has 2b applied sumtime,cant let young lads c this carry-on 4m adults

[Control]

simon78 said:

well it has 2b applied sumtime,cant let young lads c this carry-on 4m adults

Transation:

Well, it has to be applied sometime. You can't let young lads see this carry on from adults.