Discipline not just a GAA problem

As the GAA prepares for the new millennium, it finds itself under siege on several fronts. Several recent instances of lack of discipline have put the association under strict scrutiny.

In some cases this scrutiny seems to be mere begrudgery. Admittedly, when a referee is struck by a team manager, when a player is sent to prison for assaulting an opponent or when a player leaving the field has his jaw broken by an opponent, it is only just that ordinary people ask questions such as: "How can this happen in the name of sport?". Their question is valid and requires an answer.

But, in fairness, the question must be expanded. The broader question is: "What is going on in our society when healthy pursuits can become sullied by thuggery? Is it because society as a whole is sick and that sport is not the only facet of our modern life which is ailing in this regard?"

Some of the recent comments seem to take a certain amount of delight in "knocking" the GAA - a common enough pursuit down the decades. And this column has not been behind the door on occasions when the GAA was less than forthcoming in its approach to certain matters. Yet there has not been a more powerful influence for good in Irish society within the last century than the GAA. Set up in 1884, it survived many turbulent years and made a contribution to Irish life which cannot be matched by any other organisation, social, political, religious or otherwise. Sadly, indiscipline has been causing problems within the ranks of the GAA on an increasing scale in recent years, but this is not confined to the GAA nor indeed to sporting bodies in general.

This was brought home to me at a bus stop in Dublin this week when two girls no more than 12 or 13 threw chocolate bar wrappers on the pavement within a few feet of a litter bin. When I inquired, with an ironic tinge in my voice, if I might be allowed to convey the offending wrappers to the bin, they replied in gross and vulgar language which would be improper to repeat in a family newspaper.

Indiscipline can take many forms. Death in road accidents continues to spiral. Only recently, too, we have read about teachers at various levels claiming that they are being bullied by pupils, parents and other teachers. The GAA is not living is a vacuum.

The point is that it is wrong to single out the GAA for special mention when the question of discipline in sport comes up. Within the last week we read that a former Secretary General of the United Nations had been appointed to investigate members of the International Olympic Committee for the taking of illegal "sweeteners" for their votes on a venue for next year's Winter Olympic Games. It puts a "bit of a scatter" at a junior match in Fermanagh into some perspective.

The GAA is certainly, to some extent, a victim of its popularity. The search for precious tickets for the big matches shows how keen people are to be associated with the games. The pity is that many of those who get the tickets are the very people who will scoff at the GAA on occasions when its standards drop below their normal level. That in turn means that many who give devoted and loyal service to the games are often left behind when the search for tickets starts.

Yet the fierce pride and loyalty goes on. Only this week was it announced that the Simonstown GAA club in Meath had embarked on a project to provide playing pitches, courts for basketball and tennis, indoor hurling, Jacuzzi, ball alley, gymnasium and first aid centre at an estimated cost of £2,300,000. The club chairman, John Howard, said the development was part of his club's determination to provide facilities for young people which would remove them from the danger of drugs and petty crime and would "be an innovative and non-alcoholic and drugs free area for young people".

When local voluntary effort such as that is taken into account, and it is by no means unique, the problems about lack of discipline is put into its proper perspective.

Complacency is not part of the GAA's agenda on this serious matter, but, while mistakes can be made and unnecessary delays are frequent in dealing with certain problems, the GAA, at its annual congress this weekend, can hold its head high. It can be confident that it knows that there are problems and that it is prepared to face up to them. It does not need lectures on how to handle its affairs, nor a tribunal to show it how to run its business.