Ollie Murphy made his own personal case to the Games Administration Committee (GAC) at a hearing in Croke Park last night. The GAC meeting discussed the circumstances surrounding the Meath corner forward's sending-off in the National Football League tie with Derry earlier this month. Murphy was involved in an alleged head-butting incident with Derry's Sean Martin Lockhart. The GAC's ruling on the matter was not disclosed last night.
Murphy was accompanied to the meeting by Meath manager Sean Boylan and county secretary Liam Creavin, and it is understood that there was a strong case made in his defence. The Meath delegation left the meeting without comment.
Murphy must now await another 24 hours before hearing whether or not the incident will carry a suspension. If he is deemed guilty of head-butting then it will carry a minimum three-month suspension.
The GAC will convey the result of their deliberations to the Meath county secretary some time today and that information is not expected to be made known to the public until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
The retention of Rule 21 will only serve to make the GAA appear as a bigoted and regressive organisation, according to Fine Gael spokesperson on Northern affairs, Charles Flanagan TD.
Flanagan made his remarks during an address to pupils at his alma mater, Knockbeg College in Carlow. "Rule 21 must be seen in the same light as `the ban', which to modern day students must be looked upon with breathtaking disbelief. It is unimaginable in modern times that an organisation like the GAA could sustain a ban on its members playing rugby or soccer."
Flanagan contended that persisting with Rule 21 would reinforce the perception that "the GAA is seen in certain quarters, indeed unfairly, as narrow-minded and bigoted.
"The RUC, post-Patten, will recruit vigorously in nationalist communities, thus showing Rule 21 in an even more deplorable light," he added.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Football Development Committee (FDC) are continuing to take their proposals for the revamped All-Ireland football championship around the country. Yesterday evening they were in Leitrim for a presentation to the county delegates at a special meeting in Drumshanbo. However, the county has postponed a vote on whether to reject or accept the proposals until another meeting on the Monday before the GAA Congress of April 14-15th.
"It was decided that we would get all the information from the FDC and then give the clubs time to absorb it," explained county secretary Seamus Gallagher. "At the moment there has been very little feedback coming in from the clubs, so it's hard to know which way the voting will swing."
But there has been some early indications that Leitrim may support the FDC plans, with county chairman Des Quinn already committed to backing the new proposals.
Elsewhere, the Connacht Council has organised a special competition for hurling and football clubs as part of their Millennium celebrations. The competition will take place on Wednesday evenings during April and May with 75 senior football teams and 41 senior hurling teams set to compete.
In the football, the teams will be divided into eight groups and the top two in each will then qualify for the concluding phase. The hurling competition will be run over two rounds before entering the knockout phase.
