Post by BIGMAC on Jun 11, 2007 12:54:22 GMT
Time to burn rule book and start from scratch
NO SPORTS organisation in the world that I know of seems to have as much trouble with its own rule book as the GAA. Every week it seems there is yet another squabble about yet another GAA rule controversy.
And to me that's not a bit surprising, because the long and short of it is that the GAA rule book is a load of nonsense with far too many badly-worded rules, with countless subsections, clauses, recommendations and whatever you're having yourself. It has been that way as long as I can remember and it has got a lot worse in recent years.
That is a harsh comment, in view of the many talented people who have worked on reforming the rule book in the past 20 years, some of the best brains the GAA is supposed to have, led by Frank Murphy of Cork mainly.
But as the Kerryman told the tourist looking for directions: "If it was me, I wouldn't start from here at all." All these wise men have merely produced proposals to amend or change rules dating back to the start of the GAA.
What they should have done was scrap the Treorai Oifigiúil (official guide) completely and start from scratch with a new set of rules written in clear, concise style and taking into account modern legal practice in the area of sports behaviour and enforcement of corrective justice, bearing in mind always the demands of natural justice.
The GAA rule book is a legal quagmire as the organisation learned any time a player went looking for a High Court injunction in recent years.
In response the DRA was incorporated into the GAA system to offer a legal halfway house to GAA members and prevent them going to court.
The DRA has caused serious embarrassment to the GAA, with some of its decisions based purely on legal technicalities used by GAA committees when arriving at decisions. For example, in the Paddy Bradley case, the DRA decreed the Derry County Board had erred because the committee which suspended Bradley included a man who was a friend of the referee involved with Bradley, and who often acted as umpire for him. I kid you not! That's natural justice for you.
The biggest flaw in the GAA rule book is the vagueness of so many rules, which allows different interpretations by referees, officials and every hob-lawyer in the GAA, of which there are thousands. There is no better example of this than the three so-called 'square-ball' goals over the past two weekends. John Bannon ALLOWED the one against Armagh, which decided that game with Donegal. Vincent Neary DISALLOWED a similar one scored by Longford against Laois at a crucial stage of the game. And Jimmy McKee ALLOWED Dublin's goal scored by Alan Brogan against Meath.
Is it any wonder the rule book is a laughing stock - except that Armagh and Longford, in particular, are not laughing.
That particular rule is a relic from the past when the third-man tackle was legal but is no longer needed, yet it still remains in the rule book.
Goalkeepers are now wrapped in cotton wool and cannot have a finger laid on them inside the square, so why should they be the only player on the field allowed to jump unchallenged for the high ball? The rule should be scrapped immediately.
It is the job of defenders to prevent forwards going in to contest balls with goalkeepers, not the rule book.
There are numerous other rules that could be scrapped or amalgamated with others to reduce the overall number of rules by half at least.
Full-time roles
Having done that, the GAA should then appoint a three-person group in a full-time role to deal with all discipline matters at inter-county and similar level, with one or two of this trio being solicitors or barristers.
All other disciplinary committees, of which there are many at present, should be done away with and just one appeal from that body's judgment allowed to the top committee in the GAA, the Management Committee, chaired by the president of the day.
The less people involved in GAA discipline enforcement, the less opportunity there is for canvassing, delays, abuse of players' rights and the bad publicity for the GAA we are seeing these days.
But I doubt if the GAA has the guts to do this - too many famous people would have to be thrown out of positions of power on all these committees if they did. And the GAA, above all, looks after its own officials.
- Eugene McGee
NO SPORTS organisation in the world that I know of seems to have as much trouble with its own rule book as the GAA. Every week it seems there is yet another squabble about yet another GAA rule controversy.
And to me that's not a bit surprising, because the long and short of it is that the GAA rule book is a load of nonsense with far too many badly-worded rules, with countless subsections, clauses, recommendations and whatever you're having yourself. It has been that way as long as I can remember and it has got a lot worse in recent years.
That is a harsh comment, in view of the many talented people who have worked on reforming the rule book in the past 20 years, some of the best brains the GAA is supposed to have, led by Frank Murphy of Cork mainly.
But as the Kerryman told the tourist looking for directions: "If it was me, I wouldn't start from here at all." All these wise men have merely produced proposals to amend or change rules dating back to the start of the GAA.
What they should have done was scrap the Treorai Oifigiúil (official guide) completely and start from scratch with a new set of rules written in clear, concise style and taking into account modern legal practice in the area of sports behaviour and enforcement of corrective justice, bearing in mind always the demands of natural justice.
The GAA rule book is a legal quagmire as the organisation learned any time a player went looking for a High Court injunction in recent years.
In response the DRA was incorporated into the GAA system to offer a legal halfway house to GAA members and prevent them going to court.
The DRA has caused serious embarrassment to the GAA, with some of its decisions based purely on legal technicalities used by GAA committees when arriving at decisions. For example, in the Paddy Bradley case, the DRA decreed the Derry County Board had erred because the committee which suspended Bradley included a man who was a friend of the referee involved with Bradley, and who often acted as umpire for him. I kid you not! That's natural justice for you.
The biggest flaw in the GAA rule book is the vagueness of so many rules, which allows different interpretations by referees, officials and every hob-lawyer in the GAA, of which there are thousands. There is no better example of this than the three so-called 'square-ball' goals over the past two weekends. John Bannon ALLOWED the one against Armagh, which decided that game with Donegal. Vincent Neary DISALLOWED a similar one scored by Longford against Laois at a crucial stage of the game. And Jimmy McKee ALLOWED Dublin's goal scored by Alan Brogan against Meath.
Is it any wonder the rule book is a laughing stock - except that Armagh and Longford, in particular, are not laughing.
That particular rule is a relic from the past when the third-man tackle was legal but is no longer needed, yet it still remains in the rule book.
Goalkeepers are now wrapped in cotton wool and cannot have a finger laid on them inside the square, so why should they be the only player on the field allowed to jump unchallenged for the high ball? The rule should be scrapped immediately.
It is the job of defenders to prevent forwards going in to contest balls with goalkeepers, not the rule book.
There are numerous other rules that could be scrapped or amalgamated with others to reduce the overall number of rules by half at least.
Full-time roles
Having done that, the GAA should then appoint a three-person group in a full-time role to deal with all discipline matters at inter-county and similar level, with one or two of this trio being solicitors or barristers.
All other disciplinary committees, of which there are many at present, should be done away with and just one appeal from that body's judgment allowed to the top committee in the GAA, the Management Committee, chaired by the president of the day.
The less people involved in GAA discipline enforcement, the less opportunity there is for canvassing, delays, abuse of players' rights and the bad publicity for the GAA we are seeing these days.
But I doubt if the GAA has the guts to do this - too many famous people would have to be thrown out of positions of power on all these committees if they did. And the GAA, above all, looks after its own officials.
- Eugene McGee
