Down hurling boss Ronan Sheehan has welcomed a strong clampdown on racist and sectarian abuse that was delivered at GAA Congress last weekend.
A motion which sought to increase the ban for “deed, word or gesture of a racist, sectarian or anti-inclusion/diversity nature” from two games to 48 weeks was passed with 91% of delegates voting in favour.
There is, however, an allowance for the punishment to be cut to 24 weeks for over-18s or 12 weeks for under-18s should they “complete an appropriate course of training or education”.
Twelve months ago, Sheehan drew attention to alleged sectarian abuse levelled at his Down players during a League game, saying that they had been called “prods, brits and black b******s”.
Sheehan says that the Congress vote makes the punishment “far more meaningful and it will make people think twice about using that terminology towards other players”.
He added: “I think the other bit is that in general, it’s a good sign that the GAA are not going to tolerate sledging which I think is in our game at all levels. It’s a nasty thing that’s crept into our games.
“You look at the fantastic success of East Belfast GAA here in County Down and they’re a very broad church, they’re of all religions and none which is fantastic to see.
“You look at all of the young people that are playing our games right across our island from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and colours and that is to be welcomed and this motion is saying that the GAA is an organisation that’s open to all and it won’t tolerate where people are overstepping the mark and effectively making people feel unwelcome based on their religion or the colour of their skin.”
Sheehan says that such incidents have dried up completely since he went public last year.
“I don’t even think they realised what they were saying or the deep hurt they were causing. I think they were saying it simply to get a reaction.
“Since we made that statement, there hasn’t been a single incident of it in any game we’ve played.
“It’s sometimes from unfortunate incidents we can bring positivity from it and that’s what we certainly tried to do.”
The election of Jarlath Burns as the next president of the GAA - he will take office in 12 months’ time - was the main takeaway from Congress and the fact that he will be the first president from the Six Counties since Fermanagh’s Peter Quinn, who served from 1991-94, has been widely commented on.
Sheehan has played down the relevance of that, however.
“My biggest concern with Jarlath getting elected is what he was going to do for hurling. Where he’s from is probably secondary.
“It is always good to see the GAA re-establish and always be an association that almost ignores partition on the basis that we’re an-island association and we’ve shown on many, many occasions actually that partition is irrelevant.
“If you look at Monaghan, Tyrone, Armagh, Down, Louth, people don’t even notice the border. I can walk across to Omeath and where’s the border?
“For Jarlath to be elected is another sign that the GAA is an association for all, the GAA is open for everybody, open to all opinions and none.
“I think what is most important is what Jarlath Burns will bring to the table in terms of some of the real challenges for the GAA in terms of the inter-county game and where does that fit in and how do we kind of ensure that we have a funding model that works for counties, players and the integration of ladies football and camogie, the urbanisation challenge, all of those things are what’s important for Jarlath Burns.
“From my own perspective, having met Jarlath on numerous occasions and knowing him, he’ll be an excellent leader for the GAA but people who think he’ll be fixated on where he’s from will be very surprised.
“I think Jarlath will be very focused on what are the real challenges of the GAA and they’re the same whether you’re a GAA man from Armagh or a GAA man from County Cork.”
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