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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Oisin Doherty

Another day, another brawl: The GAA's attitude to discipline needs to change

Not for the first time this season - or even this month, a GAA game has been marred by a free-for-all brawl involving players, panel members and coaching staff. Limerick was the venue on this occasion, as a match between Ballybrown and Garyspillane descended into chaos.

In an image all too familiar to GAA fans, practically every member of both panels proceed to get involved in the confrontation. All this stemmed from one minor incident, proving that the mantra of 'one in all in' is still alive and well in the GAA.

Only a couple of months ago the nation was in shock as the All Ireland quarter final between Armagh and Galway morphed into a literal battleground, with cheap shots being thrown left, right and centre. Tiernan Kelly's eye gouge on Damien Comer was picked up TV cameras and within a day, he was rightfully handed a six month long suspension.

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Ulster often gets unfairly tarnished with the notion that the style of football up North is more attritional and lends itself to these kinds of instances happening more often. Now that isn't entirely true, but it has to be mentioned, that this was the third melee involving Armagh this season alone.

Cast your mind back to the Sunday Game highlights show on the evening of Galway v Armagh. Tiernan Kelly's actions were condemned by all involved, with everyone agreeing that incidents like that have no place in any sport let alone Gaelic football.

Sean Cavanagh's comments on that show were particularly interesting. "Sometimes a bit of a push and a shoving match is ok," said the former Tyrone man at the time.

"Sometimes this is ok when it's the playing members that are involved and it's a show of raw emotion in the white heat of battle." Cavanagh obviously condemned Kelly that night, but his biggest objection to the brawl was the fact that members of the panel who weren't involved on the day got involved.

Now this isn't to take a pot-shot at Sean Cavanagh or Ulster football for that matter, but it does give an insight into the mindset of GAA players. It shows that this readiness for action, to join in a melee at the drop of a hat, is ingrained in a lot of GAA people.

Brawls, melees or whatever parlance is used go hand and hand with the GAA. And, unfortunately, people love them.

On the evening of the Galway v Armagh game, Twitter was ecstatic at the brawl. Many people adored seeing a bit of rough and tumble, in the same way that many enjoyed Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte's 'tango' on the Stamford Bridge touchline.

But while Tuchel and Conte's fracas was pretty funny, the problem with the GAA is that things turn nasty very quickly.

Bust-ups in the GAA are always going to happen because both hurling and football are physical sports and tempers are bound to flare from time to time. But what is most worrying, is that these incidents seem to not only be becoming more common, but they are becoming more vicious.

The Armagh and Galway brawl was a shoe-in for most controversial and shocking GAA moment of the year. But, with the way things are going, it will do well to crack the top five by the years end.

The scenes in Roscommon a fortnight ago, when a referee was allegedly assaulted just moments into an u17 game once again left many shocked.

But is anyone surprised about the scenes captured at the Limerick club hurling game between Ballybrown and Garyspillane earlier this week? Is anyone shocked by what they saw?

Of course not.

This is because the GAA has always had a problem with discipline. It is perhaps the only sporting organisation in the world where cards generally aren't worth the plastic they're made from.

Anytime a player receives a red card, be it justifiably or otherwise, the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) get bombarded with appeals and inevitably, the proposed suspension gets buried under a mountain of bureaucracy.

As the old adage goes, if you want to get away with a crime, make sure you do it on a GAA pitch.

This has been happening since the beginning of time. Diarmuid Connolly was at the eleventh hour allowed to play in the 2015 All Ireland final despite receiving a red card in the drawn semi-final with Mayo.

Armagh had three players suspensions successfully overturned earlier this year ahead of the beginning of the championship. Peter Duggan and Rory Hayes both played for Clare in this years hurling quarter-final despite initially being banned after an incident in the Leinster final.

Some of the grounds for appeal have been extraordinary. Duggan and Hayes got off because the original disciplinary committee was held online. Connolly got off because an argument was made over precedent and incorrect procedure.

All of these initial bans were warranted. All players committed offences that were worthy of a red card. Yet, they all got off on the most tenuous of technicalities.

Suspensions aren't seen as punishments for bad behaviour on the pitch. No, instead, they are seen as an obstacle course, an arena where county boards can practice their legal gymnastic skills to get a player out of trouble.

All this contributes to the scenes that are playing out on GAA pitches around the country. Players aren't being punished for their actions. No matter what they do, their clubs and counties will surround them and do everything in their power to get them off.

So, what does this mean? It means players and staff think they can get away with anything. Take any of the melee's mentioned above. Not a single player involved thought about what their actions might mean. They have been conditioned to believe that if they get sent off or banned, it will be rescinded at a later date.

Referees are getting undermined on a near constant basis, with their decisions being overturned all the time. How must referees feel about this? How long before referee's decide not to go along with this charade anymore? How long will it be before the referee strike witnessed in Roscommon a couple of weeks ago is replicated nationwide?

There's been lots of talk about how to save the game of Gaelic football in recent weeks. Some have suggested rule changes to encourage a more free-flowing game. But the biggest problem facing the GAA isn't defensive football.

Thuggery is the biggest problem in the GAA. How many times have we seen players rolling around on the ground with each other before a ball is even thrown-in? How many times have we seen teams pull the opposition to the ground to kill the final few minutes of a game?

Not enforcing the rules of the game is what is holding GAA back. If all this cynicism, thuggery and toxic macho aggression is taken out of the sport, the game will flourish.

And all this comes back to the disciplinary process. A complete refresh of appeals processes and disciplinary procedures is a must.

Discipline needs to be taken more seriously in both codes. If players commit offences, they should be punished accordingly. Clubs and County boards need to take a stand and hold their members accountable for their actions.

If bans start to stick, the 'one in all in' mentality will disappear. If the Status Quo remains in place, get ready for more ugly scenes on a regular basis.

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