GAA allowing rot to set in
You must have seen the footage of the chaos in Omagh last Sunday between Dublin and Tyrone. But surely you were not surprised? One of the offending teams is no quivering mouse when it comes to punch-up time. Indeed, they have a history when it comes to rough house tactics. Will most, if not all, of these players be sanctioned and punished? Not likely.
As Kieran Shannon in this week's Tribune excellently points out, the blame for the continued violence on the GAA pitch lies squarely with the GAA themselves. Any sport that allows the scenario whereby a player is allowed to accumulate yellow cards in successive games for fun without being punished can expect trouble.
Of course one of the most thuggish players to have ever graced a GAA pitch is none other than Ryan McMenamin. Although diminutive in stature, McMenamin punches above his waist come game-time. As pointed out by Kieran Shannon, in 2003 McMenamin punched a Mayo player from behind and also had no qualms about plunging his knees down on Tony McEntee.
What I say to all of this is: why not introduce corporal punishment? No, not in schools but on the pitch. Instead of awarding frees and penalties, arm the referee with some sort of taser. Any time a rough foul is committed give the power to the ref to allow him to zap the offending player with at least 50 volts.
In all seriousness however, the game of football is descending into an unsightly affair. And the GAA is ignoring the elephant in the corner of Croke Park (no, not Joe Kernan). Nobody has any instant solutions to this problem. But stricter punishments for violent play are necessary in this humble blogger's opinion.
Another interesting point to consider is that a culture of cheating is much more evident in the game now than in the past. Some may see it as cute-hoorism, but to call it anything other than cheating would be incorrect. You don't see the word cheat used too often in GAA columns in this country. That's because GAA players are far too revered by the commentariat and the press in general. How could you attack the motives of players who train in the muck and shit in the depths of winter?
Actually, you can. Humans, being the self-interested glory hunters that we are, sometimes resort to unsavoury tactics. Dirty strokes off the ball, pulling a jersey, hitting a penalty taker in the jaw with a scraw as he's about to kick(I've seen this particular tactic being employed on one occasion at home), time wasting etc are not to be admired even if you did get a chuckle from the scraw-throwing story.
The word cheat is indeed a dirty word in general in this country, usually only reserved for the likes of Michelle Smyth and Nadine Coyle (remember Popstars?). Refereeing becomes infinitely more difficult if players are going out of their way to spoil the game.
PS. One interesting thing to note is that Kieran Shannon started his piece by quoting from the late Breandán Ó hEithir's book "Over the Bar". The Times' GAA columnist Séan Moran has done likewise in the past. "Over the Bar" has become almost like a reference book for those in the GAA commenting industry.
Why wouldn't it when a cousin of mine wrote it? Ooh, the smugness. Unfortunately, I very much pale in the writing stakes when compared to Ó hEithir. Check out his other books "Pocket History of Ireland" and The Begrudger's Guide to Politics.
Published by Colm.
As Kieran Shannon in this week's Tribune excellently points out, the blame for the continued violence on the GAA pitch lies squarely with the GAA themselves. Any sport that allows the scenario whereby a player is allowed to accumulate yellow cards in successive games for fun without being punished can expect trouble.
Of course one of the most thuggish players to have ever graced a GAA pitch is none other than Ryan McMenamin. Although diminutive in stature, McMenamin punches above his waist come game-time. As pointed out by Kieran Shannon, in 2003 McMenamin punched a Mayo player from behind and also had no qualms about plunging his knees down on Tony McEntee.
What I say to all of this is: why not introduce corporal punishment? No, not in schools but on the pitch. Instead of awarding frees and penalties, arm the referee with some sort of taser. Any time a rough foul is committed give the power to the ref to allow him to zap the offending player with at least 50 volts.
In all seriousness however, the game of football is descending into an unsightly affair. And the GAA is ignoring the elephant in the corner of Croke Park (no, not Joe Kernan). Nobody has any instant solutions to this problem. But stricter punishments for violent play are necessary in this humble blogger's opinion.
Another interesting point to consider is that a culture of cheating is much more evident in the game now than in the past. Some may see it as cute-hoorism, but to call it anything other than cheating would be incorrect. You don't see the word cheat used too often in GAA columns in this country. That's because GAA players are far too revered by the commentariat and the press in general. How could you attack the motives of players who train in the muck and shit in the depths of winter?
Actually, you can. Humans, being the self-interested glory hunters that we are, sometimes resort to unsavoury tactics. Dirty strokes off the ball, pulling a jersey, hitting a penalty taker in the jaw with a scraw as he's about to kick(I've seen this particular tactic being employed on one occasion at home), time wasting etc are not to be admired even if you did get a chuckle from the scraw-throwing story.
The word cheat is indeed a dirty word in general in this country, usually only reserved for the likes of Michelle Smyth and Nadine Coyle (remember Popstars?). Refereeing becomes infinitely more difficult if players are going out of their way to spoil the game.
PS. One interesting thing to note is that Kieran Shannon started his piece by quoting from the late Breandán Ó hEithir's book "Over the Bar". The Times' GAA columnist Séan Moran has done likewise in the past. "Over the Bar" has become almost like a reference book for those in the GAA commenting industry.
Why wouldn't it when a cousin of mine wrote it? Ooh, the smugness. Unfortunately, I very much pale in the writing stakes when compared to Ó hEithir. Check out his other books "Pocket History of Ireland" and The Begrudger's Guide to Politics.
Published by Colm.
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