Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. So here goes. The unseemly controversy surrounding the Clare/Waterford situation is damaging to the image of hurling at a time when it would seem that the game is more popular than ever. It is particularly worrying because of its possible effects on young people and the example they are being given by their elders. Nobody will come out of this smelling of roses - not the teams, not the players, not the managers, not the county boards, not the Munster Council, not the GAA nor, indeed, the media. One can only hope that some common sense will prevail, but that is a faint hope given the high profile which has been given to the situation in recent days and the likelihood that the fall-out from it will be even more damaging.
Leaving aside the happenings on the field, particularly in the replay, it is a profound shame that the situation was not left there. Hurling should now be the only the only factor in the equation. Sadly, this is not the case and the temperature has not been not allowed to drop to allow the game itself to regain the high moral ground. It is difficult to understand why Ger Loughnane, the Clare manager, has been determined to keep the pot on the boil and his statements have served to keep it in a high state of agitation. It hard to know why he has decided to do this, since he must know what the consequences may be - and they can be pretty serious, depending on the attitude adopted by the GAA authorities. An old saying suggests that it is foolish to insult the crocodile's mother as you are about to cross the river, yet this is precisely what Loughnane has done and he may yet have to pay a heavy price for this indiscretion. He may, in fact, have fallen prey to that which ruined the little boy who cried wolf once too often. Let us hope not!
There are swingeing punishments at the beck and call of the authorities, either the Munster Council of the Games Administration Committee in Croke Park. Rule 138 of the Official Guide gives widespread powers to bodies from county boards up to GAC and Central Council level. The rule allows such bodies to "suspend, warn, fine, disqualify or expel" any body or person in the GAA if they are found guilty of "any breach of discipline or for conduct considered to have discredited the Association". Apart altogether from possibility of such stringent penalties it must be said that the scenes which marred the start of the replay in Thurles were not very pretty, but it is a shame that matters could not be dealt with in a dignified way, without a huge publicity circus being created. There have been worse examples of violence on the field in both hurling and football and as somebody once said, "nobody died".
In fact, nobody was seriously injured in those moments of madness at the start of the replay. During the past week there have been far more serious injuries to players, some of them freakish, suffered in training.
Is it too late, I wonder, to ask all concerned to call a ceasefire until after the All-Ireland final? This would involve the co-operation of the Munster Council, the Games Administration Committee at Croke Park and the Central Council as well as the two county boards and the two managers, Ger Loughnane and Gerald McCarthy. The existence of a cordon sanitaire until after the All-Ireland final could serve to cool hot heads and everyone could then concentrate on the hurling. The problems which have arisen could be ironed out in an atmosphere of common respect for a common aim.
That suggestion may seem a little optimistic on the face of it, but we should consider the alternatives. If, as now seems likely, heavy penalties are going to be dished out and appeals made to various bodies, including the civil courts, the reputation of hurling will suffer. Within the last few years the game has taken on a whole new dimension. Huge crowds have flocked to the matches, there has been massive coverage on television at home and abroad and many people who were never exposed to the game have been impressed with the skill and speed and, above all, the sportsmanship involved. It has to be conceded that Clare have contributed a massive amount to that development and it is also wonderful that Waterford have emerged this year to add further lustre to the game. Most neutrals would relish an All-Ireland final between the two on the first Sunday in September. Yet, from nowhere, has come a bitterness between the two counties which never previously existed.
Talking about all this to a colleague the other day, we were both reminded of really great moments in hurling. One was when Wexford players carried Christy Ring shoulder high off the pitch at Croke Park after an the 1954 All-Ireland final - Ring had played a major part in beating them. Another was when the Offaly players, spontaneously, formed a guard of honour for the Antrim players who had amazingly beaten them in the All-Ireland semi-final of 1989 and applauded them off the pitch. Yet another was when Galway made their historic breakthrough in 1980 and Joe Connolly made his glorious speech from the rostrum.
Stirring moments like those are the very stuff of hurling. Petulant outbursts, from whatever quarter, sully such memories and it would now lessen some of the damage which has already been done if all concerned were to take a vow of silence, at least until after the All-Ireland final.
