PEOPLE should take “personal responsibility” regarding what flags and emblems they display at games, says GAA president Aogan O Fearghail.
In off-the-cuff remarks to the press at the official launch of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in Kilkenny yesterday, the Cavan official made his comments when asked for his thoughts about the Confederate flags that are often on show at Gaelic games.
“I don’t know if we have a stance on emblems,” said O Fearghail.
“Different flags appear over the years. Cork certainly have an affinity with the colours.
“They identify in Cork, I believe, with a rebellious attitude. The Confederate flag is not a flag I personally would be comfortable with. I wouldn’t be comfortable with a Nazi symbol – it also has red.
“Stopping everybody coming in with a flag, I’m not sure we’re in a position to go to that.
“People need to take personal responsibility in these cases.”
Any emblem that could be construed as racist or sectarian was against the GAA rules, insisted the Association’s president.
“We haven’t taken a particular policy decision on checking emblems as they come to our matches,” he continued.
“It would be nice if people took personal responsibility and did a little investigation themselves as to what their banner means.
“Anything that causes offence to someone else, whether an incident on the pitch or on the terraces, it’s unfortunate.
“Rather than having to be policemen for everyone’s judgement, I’d prefer if people took personal responsibility.”
O Fearghail, meanwhile, said the call for suggestions to improve the structure of the football and hurling seasons had prompted a huge response.
“I issued a call for proposals, and it’s fair to say there’s a lot of them,” he said.
“Some are complex, some are quite different. They could be distilled down to retain the League structure as it is, to go to seven, and to go to eight teams.
“Management will certainly take a view on that on Friday night on which one we feel is best for the Association. I’ll let Central Council decide that.”
O Fearghail said his current focus was on hurling affairs rather than football, because they were more immediate.
He said he wasn’t kicking the football proposals down the road, but the Cavan man wasn’t going to take a decision on them until November.
“I’m delighted that everybody, including the GPA, and our counties, have submitted quite substantial proposals,” he said.
“On a preliminary look at them, the vast majority of the people want the retention of the provincial football Championships. That’s clear to me.
“From what we’ve received so far, that’s a very, very strong feeling that I’m getting. There are a lot of variations in Qualifiers.
“But our initial Championship structure of a provincial football championship looks to me like it will be hugely supported by the vast majority of submissions we have received.”
He said quite a lot of individuals discussed the proposals, so they came via county structures.
“It looks strongly that the counties are comfortable with the provincial structures,” he continued.
“A lot of counties feel that perhaps counties in Division Four of the League in particular, that they would favour a different structure for them at the Qualifiers stage. We would certainly be open to that.
“I’ve said that before and I haven’t changed my opinion.”
He said he didn’t know how it would work yet, but the structure that seems most likely is that, while most of the counties in Division Four want to play in their provincial Championships, if they lose their first round, they would like a separate competition – provided it offers them a route back into the main draw.
“We have to investigate how we do that if that’s what we feel is best for them,” said O Fearghail.
“That would be two-tier if it came in, that counties from Division Four would have a competition for themselves, if it happens, if they want it.
“I’m not sure all of them do.”
