GAA continues to speak fluent ‘wink and elbow’
‘The wink-and-elbow language of delight.’ Written to describe the discreet rituals which are observed in the rural courting game, Patrick Kavanagh’s line is just as applicable to every facet of Irish life.
Politics. Banks. Business. Planning. Everything. Ireland is a country that’s run on nods and winks.
It’s a nation divided in two. There are men inside the tent who know. And then, there’s the rest of us, who are always that one step behind.
We’ve an idea of what’s going on, but we’re relying mainly on ‘half-talk’ to work it all out. As the largest sporting organisation in Ireland, it’s entirely understandable that the GAA is one of the chief exponents of our ancient ways.
Last week, the boys at GAA headquarters gave a masterclass in behaviour that wouldn’t have looked entirely out of place in Billy Brennan’s barn. Any budding anthropologist seeking to grasp what separates the culture of this island from other countries should study the saga which unfolded after the Armagh County Board claimed its players had been subjected to verbal abuse, that was “provocation in the extreme”.
The statement issued by that board said: “The chanting of ‘God Save the Queen’ and malign taunting of ‘British bastard’ has no place either on or off the field of play.” The statement which the GAA issued in response to Armagh’s claim was revealing. Its opening sentence was as follows: “No indication of claims of taunts and remarks towards Armagh players in last weekend’s Allianz Football League game has been provided by the Armagh County Board to the GAA at central level to date.”
Despite the fact that the story was in the public domain for two days, the first point which the GAA sought to establish was that Armagh hadn’t made their complaint through official channels.
Talk about a skewed sense of priority. Croke Park’s response suggested that the governing body was more annoyed about Armagh’s breach of GAA protocol than it was about the accusations of ‘racist’ and ‘sectarian’ abuse.
Croke Park’s statement went on: “The GAA treats claims of this nature with the seriousness that they deserve.” This is a highly ambiguous remark. What if they don’t think it’s very serious? The GAA also promised to “examine any incident brought to its attention.”
However, it seems the only way to get the GAA’s attention is to go through official channels. Evidently, a press release sanctioned by a highly-respected chairman, who is a former Christian Brother, doesn’t satisfy the ‘GAA at central level’.
Nevertheless, even though Armagh never actually lodged an official complaint to Croke Park, representatives from the Orchard County and Laois were summoned to Jones’s Road. Again, this was a somewhat unconventional response. Most other sporting organisations in the civilised world would have launched an internal investigation.
Such an investigation would include interviewing the referee, the various match officials, the Armagh players who informed their management team about the abuse that had allegedly taken place, and perhaps even some of the Laois players.
But, no. The GAA has a different way of solving problems. It simply called the heads of the warring tribes to a meeting. After the meeting, Croke Park issued a joint-statement on behalf of both counties. A truce was declared. And no doubt it’s every bit as authentic as the one brokered by Vito Corleone.
The clinching line said: “It was agreed that allegations made by Armagh County Board in their statement do not accurately reflect what occurred in O’Moore Park.”
Again, this is another sentence completely riddled with ambiguity. What precisely wasn’t accurate about it? Was an Armagh player called a ‘British bastard’ or not? Did a Laois player chant ‘God Save the Queen’ or not? Were Armagh’s players making it up? Were they hearing things? Of course, Armagh’s interpretation of those taunts as being ‘racist’ and ‘sectarian’ was clumsy and, more significantly, inaccurate. And maybe that explains why the Armagh Board agreed to sign up to the joint declaration.
Notably, the GAA didn’t specify which parts of Armagh’s allegations failed to provide a reliable account of what happened in Portlaoise.
The more pressing question is why did Armagh officials put their names to a statement, which, on first reading, suggests that they made misleading claims?
How did the GAA persuade Armagh to seemingly row back from their original stance? What motivated Armagh to sign a statement which offered no pledge from Croke Park to formally investigate their grievances? We’ll never know.
What we do know is that at a CHC (Central Hearings Committee) meeting on Friday night the red card which Ciaran McKeever received against Laois was lifted pending a further investigation and that Paul Grimley’s recommended eight-week ban was thrown out.
Another addition to the ever-growing ‘code of mysteries’.
* p.heaney@irishnews.com
