Liam O’Neill says issue of teams pressurising referees may need to be addressed

GAA president Liam O’Neill has acknowledged that the issue of teams pressurising referees by their public comments is something that the association may have to address.

Although he emphasised that he wasn’t going to comment on the specific controversies that arose from the weekend’s Mayo-Cork All-Ireland football quarter-final, the president was speaking in the aftermath of a week in which the issue of trying to influence referees received plenty of publicity.

“There is concern about the issue of comments about the referee before the game and there is a case for maybe tidying up that area,” he said.

“It’s very hard to get good referees and very hard to keep them and putting extra pressure on them is pretty ridiculous.”

The friction began in the build-up to the weekend’s match with comments made by Cork selector Ronan McCarthy, accusing two of Mayo’s attack of tactical fouling.

“The likes of Cillian O’Connor and Kevin McLoughlin are good scorers. But they’re also key in terms of the little fouls they can commit in a game that go unnoticed, but which stop a team’s momentum, a team like Cork, which try to build quickly out from the back.

"If you can stop them eight or nine times for instance that can have an effect on a team, and they're very good at it – would have happened up in Mayo in the league game with Cillian O'Connor several times without getting a yellow card.

“Fair play to them: that’s a skill in itself to be able to do that on a regular basis and not pick up cards.”

After Sunday's win, Mayo manager James Horan responded angrily: "Our character was challenged in the lead up to this game by the Cork management, which I think is unprecedented in Gaelic football where a management team name players.

“For us it was taking the integrity of two of our players and of our team – I think that’s something that’s disgraceful and they should be ashamed of what they’ve done.”

A spokesperson for the Cork County Board said that manager Brian Cuthbert had nothing further to say on the matter.

Matter of respect

Speaking to this newspaper, Liam O’Neill said that there was also the matter of respect for and among players to be taken into account – a matter he had addressed when talking last week about the abuse some players suffer on social media.

“I made the comment last week that I’d prefer players to demonstrate respect for their opponents through their behaviour on the pitch rather than simply by their silence off it.

“I would welcome and support the comments made by Seán Potts (the GPA head of communications) on this issue. He did ask for players to be treated with respect. Players go out there and leave themselves open by being good enough to play for their counties and putting themselves on the line in the heat of battle. I think anybody who does that deserves huge respect.

“That’s just talking about supporters. It would be particularly upsetting if managers started to do it because it’s now within the actual playing environment and that’s a more serious development.”

Asked what might be done to discourage any such trends, O’Neill said that not everything can be dealt with through the agency of the rule book.

“All we can do is to encourage good behaviour. There should be a code not only amongst players and managers but amongst players themselves that people who play our games at the highest level should be respected.”

In relation to making comments deemed to be attempts at exerting pressure on referees, the GAA could introduce sideline bans aimed at deterring the practice.

“It would be a pity if we have to legislate for what should be normal good manners,” according to O’Neill. “Whatever about fouls and things that happen on the field, discourtesy is always regrettable.