It has been a turbulent few months for the Gaelic Athletic Association leading up to the start of the new 2012 Allianz National League campaign with negative headlines surrounding the violent scenes that marred a recent All-Ireland Junior club football semi-final between Derrytresk from Tyrone and Dromid Pearses from Kerry still fresh in the memory.
A bout of fisticuffs between two committed sides descended into an even uglier mass brawl when substitutes and supporters hopped the surrounding advertising hoardings in the Portlaoise ground and made a bad situation even worse. The issue was eventually diffused before the Tyrone Junior Champions recorded a hard-earned victory.
The aftermath of the semi-final provided plenty of bad publicity with one Kerry player suffering a concussion and another going home with a broken cheekbone. Joe Duffy’s RTE Live-line radio programme was besieged by angry supporters from both sides calling for action against their opponents and the whole episode did little to enhance the GAA’s standing in casual fans eyes, including the allegation that Kerry senior Declan O’Sullivan was struck by a stray handbag.
Worse still, the mass knee-jerk media reaction and calls for possible crowd segregation at future matches opened a proverbial can of worms and painted the GAA in an unnecessarily negative light.
COMMONPLACE
GAA aficionados may not wish to admit it but the unfortunate truth is that such free-for-alls are commonplace in junior and senior matches throughout the country most weekends of the year. Granted, it is rare that situations escalate to the levels witnessed in Portlaoise or that supporters and substitutes / mentors get involved from the sideline. Yet there can be no denying the fact physical (sometimes off the ball) confrontation is a modern day reality of Gaelic football.
Reported declining disciplinary issues are not confined to the GAA and to be fair to the games’ governing body, the Portlaoise issue was swiftly dealt with as heavy fines and appropriate suspensions were handed down in the aftermath of the junior semi-final encounter. Eight Derrytresk players were suspended and a €5,000 fine handed down while their Kerry opponents has three players suspended plus a €2,000 fine left to deal with.
I have yet to attend a senior Gaelic football match (in Cork) where there isn’t at least one flare-up between opposing sides. That does not mean there is a sharp decline in disciplinary standards throughout the GAA as the over-the-top reaction / reports on the Derrytresk and Dromid Pearse encounter would have you believe.
I have also yet to attend an amateur soccer match where a robust tackle didn’t eventually lead to a nose to nose confrontation or at the very least a retaliatory ‘dig’ between opposing players. Rarely (if ever) does a mass brawl during an amateur soccer of rugby game make the back pages of a newspaper.
EXPECTANCY
Intensity levels in every field sport are at an all time high with the demands on winning – even at amateur level – raising the bar in terms of preperation and expectancy. As a result, most sports are facing growing disciplinary issues yet it appears the GAA incidents are the ones highlighted most prominently and regularly plastered across the back pages.
It didn’t help that the Derrytresk match occurred during an ‘off-season’ in which newspapers awaiting the return of national league matches have to fill their pages so the GAA hierarchy could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief as the return of last weekend’s National League prompted column inches about actual football results rather than off-field issues.
There is now a collective responsibility on clubs, players and supporters to ensure there is no repeat of the unsavoury scenes which marred an otherwise intense All-Ireland junior club semi-final.
Knee-jerk reactions requesting fans be segregated at matches will do nothing to enhance Gaelic football and only end up taking away a vital element of our national game. Rival supporters enjoy the opportunity of good natured banter as well as the odd caustic remark during matches and to remove that would deprive an amateur sport of one of its most appealing social elements.
We are living in an era in which the GAA has never enjoyed such prominent social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and newspaper coverage. Dealing with unsavoury incidents in a calm and reasoned manner remains the responsibility of the media but the onus is on the GAA and its members to make sure any future perpetrators face the consequences of their actions and are deterred from getting involved in unnecessary brawls.
There will always be flare-ups and confrontations in Gaelic football as it is such a physically demanding and full-contact sport. Passions will continue to run high on the pitch as well as off it but there is no reason for those passions to escalate into violent scenes as long as a bit of common sense is utilised by players and supporters.
Follow Ger on Twitter: @offcentrecircle