It was a rather bad week for journalistic ethics. Even though some hundreds of human beings The reason was that a dysfunctional soccer player, and a talentless pop star whose main claim to fame revolves around the fact that she looks well when badly dressed were regarded as more important.

It cannot be lost on anyone either that, on a weekend when the GAA disgraced itself again by fudging the issue on Rule 21, Croke Park was closed to its usual customers because a British pop star and an American one were performing there. We have, surely, come a long way in our cynical hypocrisy.

A big deal was being made about what is essentially a totally insignificant ban on fellow Irishmen who are members of the RUC while, at the same time, the spirit of another part of that very same rule may have been flouted in the cathedral of the games which the GAA cherishes.

Consider this: "A member of the Association (GAA) participating in dances or similar entertainment promoted by or under the patronage of such bodies (the British Army or RUC), shall incur suspension of at least three months." The quote is directly from Rule 21. It begs the question as to who was promoting or patronising the back-to-back concerts at Croke Park at the weekend? Who can say if members of the British establishment, so much hated by elements within the GAA, were not involved in the promotion and patronage of those concerts? It suggests an attitude which has more to do with the chequebook than the rule book.

It also suggests that money is seen as more important than principle and that the GAA can ignore or even abandon its heritage when it suits them. It also puts into perspective another aspect of the affairs of the GAA which has come to light in more recent times. This is a reference to the association's attitude to coverage of its games. For decades, since the late and much lamented Irish Press first began to give the GAA the coverage it deserved, the GAA's attitude to the newspaper industry has been lukewarm, if not icy.

The arrival of radio advanced the importance of Gaelic games although the GAA of the time - the 1930s - was less than enthusiastic. The former GAA correspondent of this newspaper, P D Mehigan, reports that he was told that the coverage of Gaelic games on `the wireless' would shut down the GAA. Now we are being told that television has given the games a new lease of life.

One has to ask which element of the media kept the games alive all those years? One might also ask why it is that the print media has never been given the credit for coverage of Gaelic games and other sports. It was relegated to the ha'penny place when the more glamorous era of television arrived and when the GAA and other sporting organisations realised that there was money to be made out of sponsorship and television exposure.

Nevertheless, those of us who labour in the vineyard in the heat of the day will continue to do so while those equipped with microphones and cameras will be treated like royalty by the little men in yellow jackets. What has brought on this fit of liverishness you may well ask? Well it is not a mere whim! It has to do with the fact that so many of my colleagues in the weekly newspapers have expressed their continuing frustration with the way they are treated in regard to information about team selections throughout the year.

Most provincial newspapers now "go to bed" (are printed) on Wednesday night. This has to do with pressures of transport and circulation. Yet they are forced to print their main sports news without having access to team selections, leaving the GAA writers with blank sheets on which to base their previews of very important National League and championship matches.

There was the farcical situation in Cavan last week when the county board called a "press night" - only to tell the press that the team would not be selected or released. In the same county this writer had a recent experience at a crucial National League match to be scoffed at by GAA officials who "did not know" where the key to the press box was. On an equally important occasion in Pairc Ui Rinn in Cork no seated accommodation was provided for the print media.

It is a fact of course that newspapers make money from what they print and that it is the responsibility of workers in that media to do what they have to do. An element of greater co-operation, however, might not go amiss.

It is extremely odd in this context that, in spite of frequent enquiries, no information is yet available about what kind of press facilities will be available in the new Croke Park. When one considers the importance which has been given to the dropping of Paul Gascoigne and the defection from the Spice Girls these matters may seem trivial, but the people who are charged with the task of administering sport or any other activity should be conscious of the fact that their affairs may not always be as important as they were deemed to be last week. Some day the earthquake may come to your back yard.