GAA have a big fight on their hands

Last week's violent scenes at the All-Ireland junior club football semi-final are just the latest manifestation of a recurring problem that the association finds hard to eradicate, writes KEITH DUGGAN

IT HAS been a rough few months for Declan O’Sullivan. Not only was the Kerry stylist wrongly highlighted as the chief culprit in the seconds that led to Dublin’s game-turning All-Ireland final goal last September, he found himself the subject of debate on Joe Duffy’s Liveline on Monday afternoon.

The alleged attack on the Kerry star by an evidently incensed Derrytresk female supporter in the aftermath of the unruly All-Ireland semi-final debacle between his club, Dromid Pearses and the Ulster junior champions, led to a surreal line of questioning by Ireland’s favourite agony uncle.

“And was it a big handbag or a small handbag?” Duffy enquired of a Dromid Pearses supporter who had witnessed the attack. “It was a fine handbag, Joe.”

O’Sullivan’s status in Gaelic football should give cause for optimism for junior footballers all over the country; he provides vivid proof that you don’t need to belong to a powerful senior club to distinguish yourself as one of the supreme players in the game.

The repercussions from that match have left a bad atmosphere. The Kerry junior champions retreated from Portlaoise in a state of outrage, with Denis “Shine” O’Sullivan, their 36-year-old wing back and vice-chairman of the club, nursing a broken cheekbone and another player suffering concussion. Their sense of anger over what they felt was a premeditated policy of intimidation by their opponents during the match was palpable.

The Derrytresk club point to the fact that the Kerry men were shown two red and seven yellow cards over the course of the match. For Derrytresk club members and GAA people throughout Tyrone, the comments emanating from the Pearses club have been interpreted as sour grapes over another Red Hand success. And the GAA has to deal with the film of the sideline row which has been replayed all week. Opinions as to the seriousness of the incident have differed greatly but the video is the latest embarrassment for the GAA.

Film footage of violent incidents at GAA matches is always incendiary material. There is a reason that so many people watch it on television or when it is posted online – they wish to see what happened.

The Derrytresk-Dromid Pearses film looks terrible on first evidence but on repeated viewing it seems that some of those who ill-advisedly joined the altercation did so with the loose intention of trying to break up the various rows as they were breaking out. The worst of the exchanges lasted for 30 seconds and then the dust began to settle.

But it has been played on news bulletins and posted online and, added to the growing library of GAA rows, it substantiates the notion that there is wild streak running through Gaelic games.

“It is one of those strange things that people say is becoming more and more frequent. I think historically if you look at newspapers from through the years, it is not,” says Dr Mike Cronin, academic director of Boston College Ireland and co-author of The GAA: A People’s History.

“What is occurring these days is the ubiquitous nature of cameras so that if an incident happens at three o’clock, it is on YouTube by four. If this happened 10 years ago, you would have an irate local journalist but it would have played out at a more local level. It wouldn’t have become a burning issue for Croke Park or been played out on the Six One News.

“The press does create its own juggernaut and people seem to have read into this that it creates an issue for the GAA and society at large. How many games were played last weekend and one got into trouble? That doesn’t excuse the one but to somehow leap from that one example to suggest that the GAA has a systemic problem at its heart is a hell of a leap. Another debate is that this is a particular northern or Tyrone problem? Well, maybe or maybe not.”

It was unfortunate that the two clubs involved came from Tyrone and Kerry, source of one of the most complex and keenest rivalries in contemporary Gaelic games. The statements emanating from Dromid Pearses stem from a genuine sense of shock. But in Tyrone, they seem like the latest attempt to tarnish the football reputation of the county. In Tyrone, there is a common belief that fingers are quickly pointed at any disciplinary breakdown within teams from their county.

“There is no doubt about that,” says Danny Ball, the former Tyrone manager. “People in Tyrone are no more or less passionate than the people in Kerry or Dublin or Galway. If this is to be dealt with, then it has to be across the board. The people of Tyrone are no different than the people of Down or Donegal or Derry. The parochialism does run very deeply here, yes. But that is what is at the heart of the GAA. And that is why passions do run so high in games like this. I have been at plenty of games that passed off in good spirit. And I have seen the other side of things as well but when it is done and dusted, people are able to shake hands and walk away.”

It doesn’t help Tyrone’s cause that the county has been the source of a number of notably violent incidents over the past year alone, with a referee punched unconscious at a women’s match in June and a general brawl breaking out at the league final between arch rivals Dromore and Carrickmore. The objection in Tyrone is not that these events are publicised but that they are presented as a portrait of the abiding atmosphere of football in Tyrone. GAA people in Tyrone are particularly sensitive to criticism originating from Kerry, because Kerry are the traditional aristocrats of the game and because the modern relationship was very much defined by the infamous comments made by Pat Spillane during the 2003 All-Ireland semi-final between the counties.

Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception within Tyrone that the admiration they won for winning three senior All-Irelands in the past decade has been earned grudgingly.

“Tyrone were slated for going down and beating Kerry in an All-Ireland final as well,” Ball says. “There was no violence in 2003 but they were criticised anyway. There is not a county here or down South where incidents don’t occur and there isn’t a word about it.

“They should all be highlighted, from underage right through to senior level. And it is not good. Don’t get me wrong. Do people think that Derrytresk are sitting up here and are happy about what happened? I don’t think they would be. But these things have been going on for years and it comes down to: what is the GAA going to do about it?”

The GAA is hardly unique in having to deal with outbreaks of indiscipline on the field of play. Those episodes are infrequent but tend to be epic in scope, such as the Mayo-Meath dust-up in 1996. But the transfer of aggression from the teams to squad members on the sideline or to supporters is even graver.

The scenes at the conclusion of last year’s disputed Leinster final between Meath and Louth were a startling example of how quickly flashpoints can degenerate into dangerous situations. The vast majority of Gaelic games matches are played out in a kind of miraculous atmosphere which facilitates extreme passion and competitiveness along with the complexity of parish and intercounty rivalries and traditions and relationships.

Gaelic games enjoy extraordinarily intense levels of support. It is almost an act of faith that its spectators express themselves as demonstrably as they like without crossing the line, as happened last Sunday, when the row was filmed.

“The problem with film and the GAA, going back to the early 20th century – even the short films from Hollywood – is the connection between the sport and potential for violence,” says Dr Seán Crosson, programme director for the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, who did the research for the GAA Gold DVD series. “It’s somehow as if the sport itself is inherently violent. Unfortunately film just picks out those moments. Violence provides the moment of drama. What the films like that don’t get is the complexity – that they are often exceptional within the context of the game and then they are exaggerated and held up as examples of what is wrong with the game in general. And without question, we are going to see more examples of this.”

Unless, of course, the GAA successfully responds to the calls this week to implement measures which will bring an end to these scenes. But that may be tricky simply because there is no pattern of violence or disturbance, these flashpoints just occur.

“Pride in the parish” is the staunchest and truest of all the GAA cliches. It is because people put so much time and effort into their club that they come to care about it so much and it is that strength of feeling which generates the intensity of emotion at all GAA games, from underage through to the grand theatre of the All-Ireland finals.

Barry McElduff is a Sinn Féin Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for West Tyrone. He played football with and is a member of the Carrickmore club. He attended the league final in which a ferocious brawl broke out between players and then supporters and spoke out critically about what he had witnessed afterwards.

The incident was dealt with by the Tyrone County Board and led to suspensions for players and supporters. But McElduff has been to countless games down the years that have taken place in the traditional GAA spirit of organised and clearly defined localised passion. “Those recent incidents wouldn’t typically be my impression of Tyrone football at all,” he says. “ For instance, Carrickmore and Dromore respect each other greatly. In the media, you would think there is a stand-off between communities. That isn’t the case.

“Derrytresk is a very small rural area close to Lough Neagh, very strong in traditional Irish things. It is probably the same families involved in keeping the club going. This match would have been huge for them. Their rise would have been spectacular and there was big interest in the county in this match. I’d be concerned that the Tyrone I know and the Derrytresk I know is not being accurately reflected.”

The problem is the images broadcast on web pages and on television throughout the week reflected an unavoidable truth. The “optics”, to use a phrase associated with the last government, were not good. Danny Ball unquestionably has a point when he notes that in his experience, refereeing performances are often the root cause of agitated crowds at football matches (he was not referring to the last weekend’s game in Portlaoise).

Nothing maddens supporters as much as the perception that the opposition team is getting favourable treatment. The GAA has tolerated a culture whereby players challenge every call a referee makes and often demonstrate their disgust with it; that annoyance is quickly transferred to the crowed and is redirected at the referee in often explicit terms.

Nonetheless, it is common for supporters from opposition clubs or counties to spend a match in a state of high excitement and to exchange colourful viewpoints with one another and then extend hearty congratulations at the final whistle.

Gaelic games have always been regarded as suitable for parents to bring children to. Yet the distress caused to children who witnessed the Derrytresk-Dromid Pearses match was one of the issues raised on The Joe Duffy Show. The views expressed by spokespersons for the Dromid Pearse club were unusually frank and seem to reflect the depth of anger within the Kerry club. The GAA moved swiftly to review the referee’s report, with the CCCC meeting on Thursday. But by then, the general debate had moved away from the rights and wrongs of that specific match to focus on what the GAA could and must do to prevent similar occurrences from happening again.

Already, the attention has moved to the All-Ireland senior club semi-final between Kerry champions Dr Crokes and Crossmaglen Rangers, the best club team to ever come out of Ulster. The 2007 All-Ireland final replay between the teams – which also took place in Portlaoise – had controversial elements.

The voluntary aspect of stewarding will come under renewed scrutiny now. There will undoubtedly be a highly visible stewarding presence at the club semi-final. Dr Crokes chairman Vincent Casey’s suggestion that a block of seats in the stadium be reserved for Crokes fans to sit together was, on the face of it, a sensible reaction to an emotional week.

But separating the fans would be a new departure for the GAA, an admission that something essential to the well-being of the association – the peaceful co-existence of rival supporters – had broken down.

Mike Cronin says, “You are into trying to understand that psychology of crowds. That same crowd could have sat at 101 matches where there might have been a dust -up on the pitch without becoming involved. But for some reason at the weekend, one person dived in and then others followed. As for the idea about separating the crowds, I think that would be a very dangerous line to go down.

“The strength of the GAA is the jocularity and the pints afterward, the commiserating and the slagging that goes on. The moment you say that can’t be allowed, you are almost creating the expectation of something happening.”

Bad example other games that ended in controversy

TYRONE v DUBLIN

NFL, Healy Park, Omagh

February 5th, 2006

On the first day of the 2006 league, Dublin faced the All-Ireland champions in Omagh. The match was disfigured by a series of melees in which players brawled in defiance of both rules and the referee, Paddy Russell, who considered abandoning the match. After an investigation by the old Central Disciplinary Committee, seven players (an eighth, Tyrone's Collie Holmes, had already been banned for a straight red card) were suspended for between four and eight weeks. The suspensions collapsed on appeal and the fiasco helped lead to the installation of current disciplinary structures. The county boards were each fined €10,000.

MEATH v LOUTH

Leinster SFC final, Croke Park

July 10th, 2010

After mistakenly awarding Meath a decisive last-minute goal to deny Louth a first provincial title in 53 years, referee Martin Sludden was subjected to verbal abuse, attacked and struck by some Louth supporters. After reviewing video footage the GAA suspended two members for 48 weeks and barred two non-members from its grounds, also for 48 weeks. Three men were charged with assault. The case will be heard in the coming weeks.

ST MARY'S, RASHARKIN v LÁMH DEARG

Antrim U-21 FC semi-final, Ballymena

October 29th, 2011

Referee Ray Matthews and linesman Owen Elliot were attacked and the former hospitalised at the end of the match in which three Rasharkin players were sent off. Big suspensions followed, with 10 St Mary's personnel suspended and one coach and two members expelled from the association. The club was banned from all adult competition for 2012, a sanction reduced on appeal to the Ulster Council to the under-21s, with a stipulation that all other adult matches be played away from home. Matthews resigned from refereeing in protest after the reduction.

DROMORE v CARRICKMORE

Tyrone SF League final, Dunmoyle,

November 13th, 2011

Last year's league final erupted into violence late in the game. Fighting among the players on the pitch spread to the stand, with a number of spectators sustaining injuries, including one who lost part of an ear. Three Carrickmore players were suspended for 12-48 weeks but goalkeeper Plunkett McCallan had his 48-week ban reduced to 38 weeks on appeal. Four spectators from either club were banned for a year. Both clubs were fined £300, the maximum. The clubs were banned from this year's league play-offs and ordered to play their next two competitive matches at neutral venues, with proceeds going to charity. The PSNI also announced an investigation.

ST BRIGID'S v COROFIN

Connacht SFC final, Kiltoom,

November 20th, 2011

The provincial final in Connacht concluded in controversy when referee Liam Devenney was mobbed by Corofin players and supporters unhappy at the club's narrow defeat. It required the intervention of Brigid's officials to usher the referee and his umpires to the safety of the dressingrooms. Connacht Council handed down four-week suspensions to a player and selector and fined Corofin €5,100. Corofin appealed the fine, €4,000 of which was for the post-match incidents but the provincial appeals committee added a further €500 to the bill.

– Seán Moran