Sir, – Kevin McStay's piece on the tolerance and encouragement of a machismo culture in Gaelic games was superb ("Culture of machismo is greatest stain on the GAA", Sport, August 24th). Well done on shining a light on an unsavoury aspect of sport. This is not confined to Gaelic games. I believe most supporters suffer from a type of doublethink, wherein they decry violent tackles of opposition players while lauding the hard man of their own team! This is something which sporting organisations need to confront, by having a zero tolerance approach, especially at underage level, and imposing severe sanctions on transgressors. – Yours, etc,
JOHN DRISCOLL,
Blackrock,
Cork.
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Sir, – Kevin McStay’s article brings back the memory of a friend who played rugby with me in the 1970s. He was 6ft 4 inches, well able to look after himself and was playing Gaelic football for a prominent club in Clondalkin when we met. He enjoyed his Gaelic football but gave it up and took up soccer and rugby because he felt that in the GAA you got no protection from the referee.
The referees have bought into this hardman machismo attitude. A substitute comes on the field and the first thing he does is plant his shoulder into his opponent’s back, off the ball. Linesmen and referees pay no attention to such deeds.
While it could well be argued that rugby, particularly in the 1970s, had its own brand of thuggery, referees and linesmen began to pay a great deal of attention to such activities and have cleaned up the game. Give me hurling any day. – Yours, etc,
KIERAN GALLAGHER,
Rathgar, Dublin 6.