The decision not to pursue disciplinary action against Jim McGuinness or David Clifford for incidents that occurred during the Kerry-Donegal game in Killarney on Saturday have nothing to do with the evidence of our eyes and the massive audience those incidents reached over the weekend. It’s not as if these things didn’t happen, all of a sudden. This decision is about the GAA’s disciplinary system.
Neither McGuinness nor Clifford were sanctioned on the day by referee Seán Hurson for the offences they committed: McGuinness pushed a Kerry player, Diarmuid O’Connor, while Clifford led with his elbow into the neck area of a Donegal player, Caolan McGonagle.
If a referee fails to take any action, the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) has the power to take the matter further. In this case, however, they evidently took the view that any proposed suspension would not survive an appeals process.
All of the match officials were on the pitch during the free-for-all that took place just after the half-time whistle. How much did each of them see? There was so much going on that it is unreasonable to believe they saw everything.
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But when Hurson called McGuinness and Jack O’Connor together at the beginning of the second half it could be argued this was his way of dealing with the fracas in real time. Did he deal with it satisfactorily? Clearly not. But the CCCC can only intervene in situations not dealt with by the match officials.
The Clifford incident is harder to explain away. If it was seen by Hurson or the linesman on that side of the field, David Coldrick, the Kerry forward should have been sent off. Are we being asked to believe that they saw it and came to the conclusion that no further action should be taken? That is not credible. So, if the match officials failed to deal with it, why have the CCCC decided not to intervene? No explanation has been offered.
The make-up of the CCCC changes with each presidency, but this iteration of the committee, and its predecessor, have been notably non-interventionist. That approach has been broadly welcomed in the refereeing community where there is natural resistance to the practice of re-refereeing matches in the cold light of a committee room.
Incidents are missed every weekend. Combing through the footage of every intercounty match for mistakes made by referees is not practical or desirable. But when high-profile incidents are missed in the biggest games and not addressed later, it makes the CCCC look ineffective.
The GAA’s disciplinary system is much tidier now than it was, say, 20 years ago. The advent of the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) has successfully blocked the path to civil courts and mercifully few of the DRA’s decisions are a hard sell. But in a situation like this, the disciplinary system depends first on the CCCC having the courage to act.
Comparisons with the Ger Brennan incident will not magically vanish now that a jagged line has been drawn under Killarney. The Dublin manager was given a 12-week suspension for an altercation with a Galway backroom member during a National League game in Salthill. In that case, the critical difference was that Brennan was red carded by referee Fergal Kelly.
Brennan took his case all the way to the DRA, but in their judgment, they gave huge weight to the referee’s report. “It has long been held in GAA disciplinary matters that a referee’s report is considered to be correct in all factual matters,” the ruling said. It also added that the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) had been within their rights to rely on the report “alone”.
In Hurson’s report from the Kerry-Donegal game there was no mention of the incidents involving McGuinness or Clifford.
Referees who have bad days out in high-profile games are often taken out of the line of fire for a while. It will be interesting to see what games Hurson is appointed to in the coming weeks.
McGuinness and Clifford have escaped any consequences, but Hurson may not.
