Fat Tom
09-03-2006, 09:57 AM
Indo:
ON the Richter Scale of GAA administrative fiascos the freeing of the Omagh Seven would be entitled to a reading of about eight.
Undoubtedly there have been more disgraceful outbreaks of violence in modern times than what happened in Omagh but the level of the GAA's disciplinary ineptitude which the affair shows up is truly dreadful.
After all, the CDC found all these players guilty of serious offences and even if the CDC had never adjudicated on the matter, the Irish public would have made up their own minds and found these players guilty simply by looking at the television pictures.
Now all the culprits are getting away scot free and the GAA is once again looking silly in front of the nation.
Now, we can blame the rules of the GAA for this, that and the other, but this latest fiasco cannot be attributed to the labyrinth Official Guide. The rules which apply to the implementing of GAA justice are actually quite clear nowadays - it is the people who attempt to implement these rules who are the problem.
After several false starts in recent years on the use of video evidence, the GAA made one hard and fast ruling: that members of a committee who viewed videos and made charges against players as a result were not allowed to take any further part in the actual deliberations regarding such players.
That's not too hard to follow is it? Yet that rule was not adhered to when the CDC met to dispense justice against the Omagh Seven. So when the players appealed to the Central Appeals Committee on Tuesday night they had an open and shut case and the result was a formality.
Many GAA people were more annoyed about the fact that the players appealed their sentences than about the original fracas in Omagh on February 5.
Many feel strongly that players should take their punishment when they transgress the rules, as usually happens in other sports. That would be the manly way to behave but manliness has been disappearing from Gaelic games at an alarming rate in recent years.
I understand that the Dublin players would not have appealed if Tyrone did not lead the way. Luckily for them they changed their minds as they would look very silly now serving their suspensions while Tyrone players of equal guilt played next Sunday.
This is a huge public relations debacle for the GAA, even greater than the match incidents themselves. To most sports followers it seems that it is easier for GAA inter-county players to escape from suspensions than to have justice applied to them when we remember the events of last summer as well.
That is a devastating image for the GAA to have. What do the hundreds of coaches involved with underage teams say to their charges about GAA discipline now?
How do they inculcate a proper spirit of fair play and lack of malice when these young players have seen the behaviour of great national stars in Omagh and now see them getting off without any punishment?
The GAA spends millions annually on wonderful coaching initiatives but something like this seriously undermines all that. Parents who are lukewarm about Gaelic games will be influenced by this decision in guiding their offspring towards a particular sport and the GAA should stop turning a blind eye to that fact.
This is no laughing matter for the GAA. It is a total shambles that requires drastic action, but take it from me none will be taken. Instead we will get all the old clichés: 'It's a man's game', 'Sure it was only a bit of handbags', and the old reliable: 'Sure the media blew the whole thing out of proportion'.
GAA bosses should go and talk to the many enthusiastic young men and women coaching underage teams around Ireland and ask them about the level of damage this week's events have done.
eugenemcg@hotmail.co m
ON the Richter Scale of GAA administrative fiascos the freeing of the Omagh Seven would be entitled to a reading of about eight.
Undoubtedly there have been more disgraceful outbreaks of violence in modern times than what happened in Omagh but the level of the GAA's disciplinary ineptitude which the affair shows up is truly dreadful.
After all, the CDC found all these players guilty of serious offences and even if the CDC had never adjudicated on the matter, the Irish public would have made up their own minds and found these players guilty simply by looking at the television pictures.
Now all the culprits are getting away scot free and the GAA is once again looking silly in front of the nation.
Now, we can blame the rules of the GAA for this, that and the other, but this latest fiasco cannot be attributed to the labyrinth Official Guide. The rules which apply to the implementing of GAA justice are actually quite clear nowadays - it is the people who attempt to implement these rules who are the problem.
After several false starts in recent years on the use of video evidence, the GAA made one hard and fast ruling: that members of a committee who viewed videos and made charges against players as a result were not allowed to take any further part in the actual deliberations regarding such players.
That's not too hard to follow is it? Yet that rule was not adhered to when the CDC met to dispense justice against the Omagh Seven. So when the players appealed to the Central Appeals Committee on Tuesday night they had an open and shut case and the result was a formality.
Many GAA people were more annoyed about the fact that the players appealed their sentences than about the original fracas in Omagh on February 5.
Many feel strongly that players should take their punishment when they transgress the rules, as usually happens in other sports. That would be the manly way to behave but manliness has been disappearing from Gaelic games at an alarming rate in recent years.
I understand that the Dublin players would not have appealed if Tyrone did not lead the way. Luckily for them they changed their minds as they would look very silly now serving their suspensions while Tyrone players of equal guilt played next Sunday.
This is a huge public relations debacle for the GAA, even greater than the match incidents themselves. To most sports followers it seems that it is easier for GAA inter-county players to escape from suspensions than to have justice applied to them when we remember the events of last summer as well.
That is a devastating image for the GAA to have. What do the hundreds of coaches involved with underage teams say to their charges about GAA discipline now?
How do they inculcate a proper spirit of fair play and lack of malice when these young players have seen the behaviour of great national stars in Omagh and now see them getting off without any punishment?
The GAA spends millions annually on wonderful coaching initiatives but something like this seriously undermines all that. Parents who are lukewarm about Gaelic games will be influenced by this decision in guiding their offspring towards a particular sport and the GAA should stop turning a blind eye to that fact.
This is no laughing matter for the GAA. It is a total shambles that requires drastic action, but take it from me none will be taken. Instead we will get all the old clichés: 'It's a man's game', 'Sure it was only a bit of handbags', and the old reliable: 'Sure the media blew the whole thing out of proportion'.
GAA bosses should go and talk to the many enthusiastic young men and women coaching underage teams around Ireland and ask them about the level of damage this week's events have done.
eugenemcg@hotmail.co m