Emmet Malone On SoccerYou won't find too many journalists with a good word to say about the state of the libel laws in this country but it should be acknowledged that when cases arise there is, at least sometimes, such a thing as the defence of "fair comment" for those on the receiving end of a writ to fall back upon.

It may not be the easiest thing to avail of but at least it's there, enshrined in law which, to judge by the events involving Pat Scully last week, is a good deal more than can be said of the disciplinary procedures overseen by Merrion Square.

The game's administrators here have been on the receiving end of some fairly outrageous outbursts from managers, players and club officials down the years and so it was no great surprise when they amended the rules a few years back so as to be able to more easily take action against those who they believed had acted unreasonably.

Scully's comments, rather mild observations made in the course of a routine TV3 appearance back in August, amounted to little more than a suggestion that things really need to be a good deal better next year. They were, however, deemed worthy of a €5,000 fine (€3,000 of it suspended) at a time when most us would surely have expected the powers that be to shrug their shoulders, mutter something about a "fair cop" and hope to be allowed to get on with things.

It has not, in short, been the best of years for the league or, when it comes to senior domestic football for that matter, for the FAI either with a succession of problems taking its toll on the image of both organisations.

The problems thrown up by Dublin City's collapse were not of their making but the suddenness of the club's demise served to highlight (yet again) how deeply flawed the league's rules are, while licensing - dreamt up first and foremost by Uefa to help ensure clubs would not upset the smooth running of a competition by going belly-up midway through it - singularly failed to protect the league from what was a terribly damaging blow.

In a difficult situation it was the right decision to expunge City's results from the record books but the situation was hardly so unforeseeable that it should not have been provided for well in advance, thereby avoiding the all too predictable row that flared up after the decision was taken.

Similarly, Shelbourne's ongoing grievance over the defeat by Bohemians in which Jason McGuinness played while suspended might have been resolved long before this evening's crucially important meeting with Derry City had the rulebook provided clarity on the matter. Instead, it seems, the document's authors wanted to allow some discretion in how it dealt with the issue of whether, in addition to the offending club being docked points, a walkover should be awarded or the game replayed in such circumstances. Really, it would have been so much better had they entirely tied their own hands.

The fine handed out by the league's Board of Control last week, however, was for comments made in the immediate aftermath of the most calamitous blunder of the lot. Privately, league officials were adamant that Derry City would have points deducted for playing Seán Hargan at a time that he too was supposed to be suspended. The northerners, however, were to stumble upon a successful defence while trawling through the league's supposedly watertight case.

The league's board was ultimately obliged to dismiss the case against Derry after it emerged the findings of the disciplinary commission meeting had not been sent to the club within the stipulated 48 hours.

The error occurred because the commission opted to consider Hargan's suspension a week ahead of schedule rather than convene for a meeting at which his would have been the only item on the agenda. But the notification was timed as if the non-meeting had taken place.

Now, assuming the league's own people were right and City were otherwise doomed to lose points, then this particular piece of administrative ineptitude still has the potential to decide the outcome of the title race.

There has, however, been no attempt to publicly explain why the decisions involved were taken by the committee's members (Charlie Cahill, Arnold O'Byrne and chairman Michael Hyland) and who, if anyone, from the league's end of things was aware of what was going on. Nor has there been any hint that somebody might fall on their swords for a breach of procedures that could potentially cost a member club hundreds of thousands of euro.

Into all of this stumbled Scully who had the audacity a few days later to broadly concur with Trevor Welch's suggestion that the league was in "a bit of disarray".

At last Tuesday's Board of Control meeting when the punishment was handed down it was apparently communicated to the Shamrock Rovers manager, his solicitor and a club official that exception had been taken to his assertion that the right people and structures being put in place for the launch of the new league next season was of critical importance.

The tone he employed - he referred, amongst other things, to the "stupid things" that had occurred under the present regime - might have been taken to be slightly offensive but, really, could anyone seriously suggest that the comments weren't fair? Doubtless when the new league rulebook is published in a few months time there will be more restrictions on what members of the oh so happy "football family" can say in public and provision for the imposition of greater penalties against those who transgress.

Let's hope those charged with overseeing the revamp are as diligent when it comes to writing the rest of the new regulations.