I’M not sure how true it is but I was chatting to a man in the shop the other night and he told me that a good source told him that the success rate for appeals in the GAA this year is 122 per cent.
It’s hard not to believe him on the evidence of the past week. Diarmuid Connolly managed to have his one-match suspension overturned in the wee tiny hours of Saturday morning, allowing him to play in that day’s All-Ireland semi-final replay with Mayo.
That was despite what looked like fairly conclusive evidence of him throwing a box at Lee Keegan while they tangled on the ground.
Following quickly on from Mayo’s own Kevin Keane being exonerated of a similar offence against the jowl of Michael Murphy in the quarter-final, and you have yourself a brave overview of the whole disciplinary system at present.
Our first ‘Anonymous’ caller of the week thought the whole thing was just ‘abominable’. Anyone who can use the word ‘abominable’ an average of once every 36 words and make it fit deserves top billing on Off The Fence.
“I just find that the whole thing is abominable. The rescinding of red cards is atrocious. As a true Gael, I find the whole thing unbearable to watch. The game has totally lost its credibility. It’s such a sad day for someone involved in the GAA for a lot of years. I, like a lot of other people, will actually not watching the All-Ireland this year because, you know what, it’s not even worth watching. The GAA got what they wanted. What about the other teams? The slating of Tyrone players, bringing them forward for things that aren’t even in the rulebook? The most abominable part was that they rescinded Diarmuid Connolly’s ban. To put him on to a pitch after what he did is abominable. There are rules and regulations on a pitch, and he got away with it.”
CO’K: Over the past decade, a ‘claim culture’ has seeped slowly through the GAA to the point where it is now endemic. When a player gets sent off nowadays, the first thought of any management team is ‘how can we appeal?’ That goes from under-12 club to senior inter-county. It doesn’t matter if they are guilty as sin. If getting off means discrediting referees, officials, the rulebook, so be it. It’s a case of doing whatever needs to be done, at whatever cost. That culture will not change until the rulebook is torn to shreds and rewritten from scratch. You cannot have a justice system where, in the event of an appeal, the onus is put back on the governing body to prove guilt. But that’s how the GAA’s is working at present. Or not working, as the case is.
‘SB from North Belfast’ has the well-woven mentality that it’s all just anti-Ulster.
“As an Ulster Gael who has been involved with the GAA for 30 years I now feel like an outsider within the Association. My province and it's teams and fans are being treated like dirt by the GAA, the Southern media and many so called GAA people in other parts of Ireland. We are second class citizens within our own organisation and the past few seasons have really made me question my own commitment anymore.
“What Mayo and Dublin got up to in their first semi final last week made the Tyrone/Monaghan match look like a picnic yet the two Ulster sides were damned and slaughtered by all and sundry. Most of the nasty incidents in that Dublin/Mayo game including diving, off the ball hits, alleged headbutts, studs into players thighs etc were brushed over and no action was taken by the CCCC while Dublin's most important player Diarmuid Connolly, again as he did in 2011, conveniently gets cleared to play in the replay.
“Maybe a 10/15 minute delay by ALL Ulster sides before the start of the first National League games of next season and backs being turned by Ulster fans before the games begin may bring this to the fore?”
CO’K: You can’t suspend men from an All-Ireland final. Didn’t you know?
Meanwhile, the barely believable delay over reappointing Mickey Harte as Tyrone manager goes on. ‘Jim from Dungannon’ had this to say:
“Imagine how stupid, vain and full of self-aggrandizement the Kilkenny county board would be seen to be, if they asked Brian Cody to attend an interview before reappointing him as manager of Kilkenny senior hurling team? I think not!”
‘Tyrone reader from Carrickmore’ believes, however, that after 14 seasons, it’s time for a change in the Red Hand hotseat.
“I think Mickey Harte should step down as Tyrone manager. He’s been there a long number of years. The last few years, there’s been a lot of men have left the Tyrone panel. I think he should step down and let Peter Canavan and Brian Dooher take it over. They want the job but they’re afraid to say that.”
CO’K: Believe me, nobody wants to be the man to succeed Mickey Harte if he is forced out the door. Regardless of the facts, it would look like a coup. I doubt Peter Canavan or Brian Dooher, two of Harte’s most loyal servants down the years, would want that hanging over them. Not that you really foresee Mickey going anywhere.
RTÉ screened an excellent documentary called ‘Pairc Life’ on Tuesday night in which Jacqui Hurley spoke to a wide range of folks with vested interests in the GAA.
‘Patrick from Down’ believes that the answer to all the problems is to abolish the back door, but that bringing the All-Ireland finals forward would betray everything he learnt in first year at school.
“Just calling in reaction to Jacqui Hurley’s brilliant programme last night on the reality of where things are at in the GAA. A lot of commentators were saying that the season should be cut by a month, with the All-Ireland finals the first and second weeks of August. I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I remember Irish class in my first year of secondary school and being taught the translation of “the hurling final on the first week and the hurling final on the third week.” August is littered with holidays as well.
“My answer to the whole thing is to just drop the qualifiers, to go back to a straight knockout. That, to my mind, will solve a lot of problems. A lot of central people might not want to hear that because it’s all about money. But at the end of the day, if they want to save the clubs, it has to go back to knockout.”
CO’K: It’s hard enough to justify a back-door championship lasting until the third week of September, never mind a straight knockout one.
