Ban ref baiters' clubs and that'll put a stop to it

ON GAELIC GAMES:If every club whose members assaulted a match official were banned from that competition the next season, the 'culture' would disappear fast

THE DARK nights after Samhain: for the GAA, the necessary re-orientation of the intercounty season to a calendar-year basis always carried the problem of how to maintain profile during the closing months of the year. It has been advanced as one of the benefits of the calendar year that club championships can secure their own place in the mellowing media spotlight at this time of the year. There are, however, times when the administrators in Croke Park must wish this wasn’t the case.

Every autumn and winter when the club scene gets the stage to itself, there seems to be a parade of misbehaviour, showcasing the least admirable and most embarrassing aspects of life within the GAA.

The week before last there was the Tyrone league final. Should that have been addressed in this space a week ago? Another club fight in Tyrone? Meh. Of course there was no rush because when it comes to unacceptable behaviour at club matches it’s like buses at rush hour. There’ll be another along soon.

Sure enough, at the weekend’s Connacht club final there was more to come, this time amplified by the TG4 cameras and live coverage. It’s clear from reports as well as the reaction of last night’s county board meeting the incidents at the Tyrone league final between Dromore and Carrickmore were far more serious than what took place at the final whistle in Kiltoom.

Yet what happened at St Brigid’s Park is starkly symptomatic of one of the greatest ills in Gaelic games: the wilful and irresponsible refusal by some to behave with any sort of manners or decency when something goes against the interests of their team.

On the face of it the decision to hold a provincial final in one of the contestants’ home grounds was reasonable. It adds atmosphere and guarantees a decent crowd once the finalists aren’t too far apart geographically. St Brigid’s pitch has been used by the county before and comfortably accommodated the crowd.

The downside was pitch access looked a little too easy afterwards and led to referee Liam Devenney and his officials being confronted by enraged Corofin supporters. It should also be borne in mind that although Devenney was escorted to the safety of the enclosure, what would have happened if St Brigid’s had been the aggrieved team? The referee would have been going into the heart of a hostile environment.

It has to be acknowledged the inexperienced Mayo official had a controversial match but video review indicates the majority of his decisions were justifiable. Although the free count went nearly two to one against Corofin and they had what looked like a good goal ruled out in the first half, disproportion in the award of frees isn’t an argument one way or the other. A significant number of the calls – nearly 50 per cent in the first half – in favour of the home team could be categorised as debatable whereas the frees in favour of Corofin were straightforward. When 50-50 calls keep going against the same team, frustration inevitably builds.

The disallowed goal was a tight decision and the lack of deliberation between referee and umpires as much as the disallowing of the score appeared to upset the Galway champions.

In the second half the number of contentious decisions dropped, although St Brigid’s took the lead they never lost from a free that might well have gone the other way.

All of which acknowledged, this should not have any bearing on the situation. Matches can’t take place without a referee and any system of human arbitration brings with it the certainty of mistakes. Why can’t that be accepted? Why is the referee so often the first up before the tribunals of inquiry established by disgruntled teams and their supporters after losing a match?

It’s the culture, we are occasionally told. Club competition is a passionate arena where tempers are raised and steam let off – it’s what makes the GAA the compelling world it is.

If indiscipline and misbehaviour are a prevalent culture, they represent an insidious one – like that which so comfortably accepts the bad-mouthing of referees. Even at the highest level Ireland manager Anthony Tohill and vice-captain Ciarán McKeever took time out after the recent whopping-series win in Australia to make clear their disapproval of AFL official Ray Chamberlain.

When Wexford’s Anthony Masterson was ordered during the summer to apologise – as an alternative to suspension – for describing a referee as the worst in the country, there was the sort of outcry normally reserved for breaches of human rights.

On Sunday, Kieran Fitzgerald, a distinguished All-Ireland winning footballer, called Devenney “a disgrace to the association”. Imagine if a referee defended his performance by naming a player whose inaccuracies had contributed far more to a team’s downfall than some controversial officiating decisions?

The excesses of rivalry and indulgence of bad behaviour are a chronic problem on the field of play, as punishments frequently fail to fit the infractions and when they do the air is thick with special pleading and complaint. Dealing with the misbehaviour of supporters is a tougher task and has to involve collective punishment, which can be harsh on a club or team.

But you’d have to wonder were Corofin – or to be fair, any club in that situation – instead of being fined, suspended from contesting the next provincial championship for which they qualify, would the impulse to remonstrate with officials be quite as untamed as at present?

There would be opposition and it would be argued the vast majority of players, team officials and supporters are well behaved. But punishing the collective isn’t an unusual idea; it’s what happens every time a player is sent from the field.

The minority of supporters who menace voluntary officials and create this shocking publicity for their own clubs as well as the GAA have to understand they have both individual and collective responsibility.

“Cultures” get changed surprisingly easily when they are clearly seen to be corrosive and damaging. If every club whose members assaulted a referee or match official found themselves banned from that competition the following season, you can bet the “culture” would prove as durable as selfish parking after the advent of the clampers.

It’s nearly two years since GAA president Christy Cooney unveiled the association’s initiative Respect – rolled out at juvenile grades and to foster “a new approach of fair play, mutual respect and goodwill to Gaelic football and hurling across all grades” – which he described as “the most important launch” of his presidency.

As the programme sets about attempting to rear more respectful and disciplined generations of players and members, the GAA might, while it’s waiting for the soft speaking to take effect, equip itself with a big stick.