Gaelic Games: It is the GAA's equivalent of a stuck record - the repetitively discordant sound that intrudes into the world of supposedly recreational sport. Since the conclusion of the intercounty season there has been a sequence of messy fracas and scabrous scenes at various county championship matches, writes Seán Moran

Some can argue there has been media overkill but - as is the case with the whingeing and hand-wringing about "trial by media" in relation to the current show-jumping controversy - from here it looks simply like reporting the facts.

And unpalatable facts they are for the GAA. Any match can get out of hand and, as is frequently pointed out, there are hundreds of fixtures played every weekend but the flow of evidence at the moment doesn't have to stray far from established senior club matches at the concluding stages of their respective championships.

The more elite the matches, the higher the reasonable expectation they will be conducted in a disciplined fashion. At the heart of the association's fears has to be the answer to the question: why is this happening on such a scale? Some comfort could be taken from the overview that these incidents come in clusters and don't constitute a trend. GAA president Seán Kelly said earlier this week there was also the knock-on effect of a summer of, at times, high-profile disciplinary problems heightening sensitivity to similar issues.

That's an unconvincing explanation for the depressing coverage of recent weeks, which has simply responded to events that would be considered newsworthy in any climate. But to be fair to Kelly he wasn't trying to whitewash the more sinister implications and he conceded that what was happening at the top of the association was probably a contributory factor to the landscape.

And these are the sinister implications: ambivalence to discipline and the lack of respect for authority as seen several times this summer has helped create an environment where unacceptable behaviour is tacitly condoned by not being punished.

Kelly appeared a bit lost for immediate solutions. He has appointed a sub-committee to look at disciplinary procedures and propose root-and-branch reform - hopefully with a view to establishing a tribunal, based on the Australian Rules model with independent members and a practising lawyer as chairperson.

Equally Kelly knows such reforms are down the road yet and can't help what may happen on the field of play in the weeks ahead. Or remedy what's gone wrong in recent months.

Incidents relevant to this issue have been detailed here in the past. The Games Administration Committee declined to act in a number of cases where foul play took place in full view of television cameras. These include, among others, the early failure to red-card TJ Ryan in the Limerick-Cork match and the decision to ignore Gerry Quinn's foul on Henry Shefflin in the Clare-Kilkenny replay.

The argument is made if a referee takes action, then GAC has no role in overriding that decision. This laissez faire approach is at odds with the needs of the situation and the provisions of the GAA itself whose Central Council specifically authorised GAC to intervene in such cases. But the minutiae of this issue divert attention from the main consequence: a growing perception that you can get away with foul play. It would be impossible for such a development not to have downstream repercussions.

So the new disciplinary body will probably address that situation but trying to cleanse the whole system will take a lot longer.

The GAC's not the only influence on this situation.

Kelly raised another crucial concern, the steadily growing recourse to the courts. As he put it, people used to accept referees' decisions - right or wrong - but now aren't inclined to, even if they're right and certainly not when they're wrong.

"Our rules are there for a long time," he continued, "and while they may be faulty in some ways, in terms of being very clear-cut, they were there for all to see and for that reason what has been happening in terms of court cases and so forth in the past few months in particular is not very palatable."

He then spoke about the possibility of going to the Department of Justice to see if they could advise on the subject of the injunctions that are so easily granted to those looking to evade the consequences of breaking rules.

The department can't intervene in what is a judicial process but another strategy - also mentioned by Kelly - could make an impact. That is the more vigorous contesting of applications for injunctions. I wasn't the only one mildly astonished that the interlocutory injunction obtained by Westmeath's Rory O'Connell last summer wasn't appealed immediately.

At present a player only needs a financial backer and a hard-luck story to secure an interlocutory injunction because judges feel the impossibility of giving back to a player the important match for which he is suspended makes it safer to grant the injunction, pending the full hearing.

That full hearing, of course, never takes place because once the player has played in the relevant match and the championship in question has concluded, he doesn't care about the suspension, which can be served at a more convenient time.

But if the injunction were to be challenged and appealed, it would both raise the prospect of it being lifted and serve as a warning to others that this costly method of evasion was no longer certain of success.

Kelly indicated the GAA was now going to pursue this course of action at the next opportunity.

But there are so many leaks to be plugged in the disciplinary edifice that the desired effect - enhanced respect for authority and acceptance of the GAA's rules by its members - may well take time.

Prevention may be better than cure. It's just that it's too late for prevention.