A GAA PLAYER sentenced to three-months imprisonment for assaulting a garda should be expelled from the GAA, a District Court judge has said.
Judge Kevin Kilraine urged the GAA to take action against members who stepped out of line, saying "players must be of a certain character".
Judge Kilraine was speaking in the case of Seán O'Donnell (23), a player with Termon GAA club, Co Donegal, who was before Letterkenny District Court last Thursday.
The judge questioned Termon GAA team manager Tommy Ryan as to the attitude of the GAA to O'Donnell, whom he described as a "drunkard" who "persistently acted the blaggard".
Mr Ryan, a Termon publican, was giving evidence to the court as to the good character of O'Donnell, who had 11 previous convictions.
The incident he was sentenced for took place outside the Pulse nightclub in Letterkenny on December 23rd, 2005.
Mr Ryan spoke of O'Donnell's membership of the team and membership of the local community. The Termon team were beaten county finalists earlier this year.
The court had previously heard that O'Donnell exited the nightclub at 3.05am with fellow players Mark and Trevor Alcorn.
A garda, who had been attending to an unrelated injured person, was punched in the face by O'Donnell, the court heard. His friend Mark Alcorn had been arrested after grabbing a garda in a headlock.
Judge Kilraine asked Mr Ryan what sort of role model O'Donnell was for younger players.
"What sort of team tolerates that type of behaviour in the club? Has any disciplinary action been taken? Are the under-12s supposed to admire this man as a player? What have you done about it? What is the attitude of the GAA to a person who persistently acted the blaggard?"
Mr Ryan replied that O'Donnell was a respected member of the club, but added that he did not support "that type of behaviour".
In response to a question from the judge, Mr Ryan said that O'Donnell drank in his pub.
The judge said: "I am unimpressed by Mr Ryan's evidence. The GAA goes beyond the field. Players must be of a certain character to give example to youngsters. He should not be in the club, he should be expelled.
"If the only standard is the ability to play and play well, then that has serious consequences for the GAA. I thought the GAA looked into the character of players and the example to youngsters. My understanding was the GAA were intent on stamping out drunkenness. It should not be tolerated and should be expelled," the judge added.
Mr Ryan said his approach was to bring people on board and to try to deal with these issues.
"We make the effort to try and change individuals," Mr Ryan said.
The judge questioned how long such a process took, referring to the many previous convictions O'Donnell had.
The judge told Mr Ryan that he wanted a written report of the court proceedings to be given to the Donegal GAA county board within one month.