GAA rule-book on discipline needs an overhaul

At this time of year it is natural for attention to turn to club activities and to dwell on successes, often long overdue, of club teams across the country.

As much as the club has been pushed to the margins during the course of the year there is always a certain reassurance in the primacy of club activities – the reminder that this is indeed the heart of the GAA where it all begins and where it all ends. However, it is often club activity that shows the dark underbelly of the association too. If there has been a recurring theme in recent weeks it is not of rare successes, or a David trumping a Goliath in a County final. Rather it been the plethora of violent incidents that have plagued the GAA coverage in the newspapers.

It would be easy to criticise the newspapers for negativity and for highlighting a necessarily minority activity which naturally reflects badly on the participants individually and the GAA as a collective.

Oisín McConville, former Armagh footballer and these days a radio pundit, spoke on Radio 1 at the weekend about this problem. In this respect we might fairly criticise the media coverage. McConville’s contribution to the radio discussion was headlined “it’s easy to pontificate about ugly scenes” which gave the disctinctly wrong impression of what he actually said. What he meant was that many many people were responsible for regrettable actions on the pitch themselves and that anything he said was framed by that context. In no way could his comments have been inferred as condoning “ugly scenes” yet the chosen headline implied just that.

 

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