Kerry football is rich in family tradition as can be judged by the fate of writer and football coach, JJ Barrett, during the week. The incident which saw him hit referee Mick Curley after the NFL defeat by Cavan and which triggered the former Wexford manager's two-year suspension has its own historical antecedents. In his acclaimed book about the GAA's role in healing the divisions of the civil war in Kerry, In The Name of the Game (The Dub Press £8.95), Barrett, an All-Ireland medallist, profiled the major personalities of the time. These included his late father Joe, a six-times All-Ireland winner and one of the legendary names in Kerry football. Joe went on to act as a Kerry selector, a role he fulfilled in 1937 when the county defeated - by co-incidence - Cavan after a replay. As can be seen from the above photograph, Barrett senior was subject to the same passions as his son. On page 171, JJ elaborates:

In the 1937 All-Ireland final (drawn game), he left the dug-out to administer what he believed was justice. A Cavan player had seemingly been dealing out some heavy treatment to young Kerry player Tim O'Leary. Joe's action was totally out of order and gave my mother her first sense of the extreme side of Gaelic football. . . The picture of that row hung in our home for decades . . . Who says the `one-in-all-in' syndrome began in the nineties? In Rock Street it was always the rule.

Evidently.