GAA President Christy Cooney has expressed his satisfaction at the falling number of cases coming before the Disputes Resolution Authority.
GAA President Christy Cooney has expressed his satisfaction at the falling number of cases coming before the Disputes Resolution Authority.
At Congress last April, Cooney highlighted how players and county boards were increasingly seeking hearings with the quasi-legal disputes body, which he felt indicated a culture of unwillingness to accept punishments, and a degree of opportunism in exhausting all possible means of appeal.
However, recent trends have shown a decreasing number of cases coming before the DRA, satisfying Cooney that stakeholders are now beginning to have more respect for authority.
"If a player is guilty of an offence, (he should) accept it and move on. I believe players are big enough now and understand our Association well enough to take the punishment if they commit the crime," he said.
"Last year we saw that through the championship. Only one appeal went the whole way to the DRA and that was tremendous for our Association. The improvement was phenomenal and I would hope we will have that again this year. I think we will, because I believe our players want to go out and play the game in a proper fashion and the referees want to referee in a proper fashion.
"There's no reason why we shouldn't have a wonderful season," he continued, "but of course players are human and will make mistakes. And referees are human, too, and they will make mistakes. We want quality games with players playing to the best of their ability in a disciplined fashion.''