A GAA player has received a total of £46,000 following injuries he received during a football match in 1998, a court in Galway heard yesterday. The GAA has paid £27,800 in two payments (of £25,000 and £2,800) in compensation to the player, who suffered brain damage as a result of an assault. The payment of £25,000 was made last Saturday to Mr Michael Dunleavy under the organisation's disability scheme and is the maximum which can be paid to a player disabled during a GAA match.
The assault took place near the end of a junior football tie between neighbouring north Galway clubs, Caherlistrane and Kilkerrin/Clonberne on June 6th, 1998.
John Joe Greaney (23), New Line, Caherlistrane, Headford, Co Galway, appealed to the circuit court last year against a nine-month sentence handed down at Headford District Court for an assault on Mr Dunleavy.
At the Headford court it was disclosed that in an off-the-ball incident, Greaney, then 21, hit Mr Dunleavy, a married man with a young family, a blow to the side of the head, rendering him unconscious.
He was brought to hospital and was put on a ventilator in intensive care for 10 days as a result of his injuries. Mr Dunleavy suffered brain damage and still has problems with his balance. He had been a welder, earning £500 a week, but is no longer able to hold down any sort of job and will be on disability for the rest of his life.
In court last July, Mr Paddy Muldoon, the chairman of the GAA's national insurance committee, gave evidence that the GAA was the only sporting organisation to have such a system of compensation in place for players. He said the scheme was voluntary and was not underwritten by any insurance company.
He said his committee dealt with 5,000 claims each year and used brokers to administer its £3 million fund. The scheme, he said, was funded by clubs, county boards and provincial councils. Levies and gate receipts were used to finance the fund.
Mr Muldoon confirmed that £2,800 had been paid to Mr Dunleavy, which was the maximum under the GAA's loss of earnings scheme. The disability scheme, which paid £25,000, he said, was only paid to players who suffer total incapacitation.
In court yesterday, Mr John O'Donnell for Greany, said his client had paid £17,000 in compensation out of his own pocket to Mr Dunleavy. A further £1,200 had been raised by his local football club, which had also been paid. Judge Harvey Kenny said he was pleased to hear the GAA had made the payment. He suspended Greaney's nine-month sentence and bound him to keep the peace for five years.
He told Greaney to be careful in future, particularly when playing football, and warned him that if he got into trouble again he would serve the sentence.