Discipline in sport - Procedures are flawed

JUST as the Kerry captain Paul Galvin’s suspension saga was finally resolved, the GAA needed another furore about discipline like a hole in the head but, like it or not, it seems that they have one.

The pitch invasion, and the threats made to officials after Wednesday night’s Munster under 21 hurling final between Clare and Tipperary in Ennis, were not something any sports organisation could be proud of.

Officials needed Garda protection after an injury-time ruling changed the course of the game.

In what has almost become an annual fiasco, especially at the business end of the championships, petulance and indiscipline have undermined the image of the country’s foremost sporting and social organisation.

That feeling of disappointment is deepened once the disciplinary procedures begin. We have appeal after appeal, committee after committee overruling committee after committee, and wrongdoers escaping censure for the silliest of hair-splitting technicalities.

The GAA is a great organisation and should have benchmark procedures for dealing with these issues. Anything less sells the organisation short.