Is it assault if the victim has football boots on?

Jack Anderson looks at the Garda attitude to violence on the field and off it.

Two images stand out from the recent International Rules series. The first is the CCTV footage of Australia's Brendan Fevola wrapping a barman in a headlock after several hours drinking in the wake of the first test in Galway. The second is of Meath's Graham Geraghty being stretchered off after being knocked unconscious by an opponent during the second test in Croke Park.

The Garda Síochána investigated the Fevola incident as a potential assault, but in the end were satisfied to issue the Australian with a caution as to his future behaviour.

Although the multiple incidents of on-field violence that occurred in the opening minutes of the second International Rules test appeared every bit as bad as that committed by Fevola, the Garda Síochána have remained silent.

This is not surprising for two reasons. Firstly, the police and the courts generally prefer that such matters be dealt with by the sport itself. Second, sport assault prosecutions are difficult to sustain.

An example of the first point occurred in August when Manchester City's Ben Thatcher viciously elbowed Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes in the face during a English Premiership league game between the clubs.

In the immediate aftermath, the Greater Manchester Police received a number of complaints about the incident. No official criminal investigation began, however, as the police were satisfied with the way football authorities handled the affair.

The reaction of Manchester City and the FA was commendable. Thatcher's manager Stuart Pearce stated that the challenge was indefensible and imposed a significant suspension and fine on the player, as did the FA.

As regards the second point, the evidential burden of proof in a sports assault case is whether the culprit has acted beyond the rules and spirit of the game in question by showing a reckless disregard for the safety of his opponent. This is an onerous burden to discharge. For instance, the Australians have maintained that the tackle which resulted in Graham Geraghty's injury, though robust in nature, was a legitimate one in terms of applicable laws of the game.

In contrast, it is difficult to see how the numerous off-the-ball clashes, which occurred during the opening minutes of the Croke Park test, were anything other than criminal assaults.

Criminal charges attaching to sports violence do not have to be confined to the participants. One of the means by which the Canadian police addressed violence in ice hockey games was to pursue conspiracy-related charges against coaches and managers who clearly had encouraged their teams to target pre-selected members of opposing teams.

It is also open to an injured player to initiate civil proceedings. Usually, civil actions of this nature proceed on the basis of the negligence of the injuring opponent.

An injured GAA player might also claim that the association breached its duty of care towards him as an amateur, by placing him in a situation where his safety was unreasonably endangered by having to compete, with minimal preparation, against full-time professionals.

This scenario is not as fanciful as it seems. In rugby for example, the IRFU has always been careful to monitor situations when elite national or provincial players occasionally play for their clubs.

The rugby authorities are particularly concerned with safety in the scrum, and an elite professional propping against a part-time club player creates a physical and legal risk.

Overall, the law is a cumbersome way of dealing with violence in sport. Neither the Garda nor the courts like to scapegoat individuals for the sins of a sport as a whole. Internal disciplinary tribunals are given to have the expertise to deal with misdemeanours, and usually do so with greater alacrity and flexibility than the courts.

In the Thatcher incident, the Great Manchester Police were impressed that the FA did not feel hindered by the fact that the referee had only given Thatcher a yellow card. Hiding behind technicalities is a frustration not only for the police but also for the victims of sports violence.

It is noteworthy that Mendes has since declared that he does not intend to purse a civil action given the English FA's comprehensive approach.

In the long term, addressing the GAA's insidious problems with violence is of more pressing concern. Specifically, there seems little point in complaining about the standard of refereeing in games, if, as apparently occurred last weekend in the Leinster provincial club championship, referees are in danger of being assaulted.

In this regard, some good may emerge from the latest instalment of the International Rules series. GAA president Nicky Brennan has declared that, in his personal opinion, the series should end. That the association is willing to forego a highly lucrative and viable event because of gratuitous violence is a welcome gesture.

If complemented by the stricter and more consistent implementation of its disciplinary regulations, then the International Rules series will, ironically, have done Ireland's largest sporting organisation some service.

Finally, the Irish law of assault permits sports participants - in the words of that infamous marketing campaign - to "play hard", but terms and conditions apply. Some of those terms, notably a respect for the safety and dignity of fellow participants, were recklessly breached in last Sunday's Croke Park debacle.

Regrettably, the egregious misbehaviour of a number of the players in this compromise game has reached such a level that the only pitch invasions they should worry about from now on are those by the police.

Jack Anderson lectures in law at Queen's University, Belfast