John Fogarty: It will take more than rules to end GAA respect crisis
CULTURE CHANGE: GPA chief executive officer Tom Parsons and GPA national executive committee co-chairperson Maria Kinsella during a media briefing of the association's AGM and 2021 Annual Report Highlights at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Dublin Airport in Dublin. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
How to change a culture?
That’s the conundrum facing GAA officials right now as they wonder how exactly the organisation’s general attitude towards referees can be upgraded from tolerance to respect.
In a strong piece in the October GAA club newsletter published last week, GAA communications manager Cian Murphy mentioned the need for a culture change. “Do we really need to wait for a draconian set of laws and penalties to be issued by the GAA at national and local level to bring about an urgent stop?” he asked. “Surely, we already know as individuals what needs to happen?
“There is a collective responsibility to establish what we consider an acceptable norm in relation to respect on the field and respect in dealing with match officials.
“The very fact that we put up signs on club pitches reminding parents ‘This isn’t an All-Ireland final’ and seeking good behaviour – and the very fact that we have an initiative like the ‘silent sideline’ at juvenile matches should be taken as a less than positive indication of where we are. We can’t expect signs and silent sidelines to be a cure when there is a cultural issue that needs to be tackled.”
On Monday, GPA chief executive Tom Parsons spoke of the need for “hundreds of initiatives at club and county” not just one major one to address the abuse aimed at those involved in games. We know examples of what he means. One former juvenile chairman in the west of country introduced a club disciplinary system which gave it the power to suspend any parent or child who verbally abused at a game or a training session. When their membership came up for renewal, they were instructed to sign a separate sheet confirming they were aware of the repercussions for repeat behaviour. The mouthiness quickly became a thing of the past.
If you want to change a culture, there simply have to be non-negotiables. They don’t always have to be put in writing, just understood and agreed by deed. “Standards,” as Brian Cody would call them. He famously spoke about rooting out tardiness in his panel, being ready himself in Nowlan Park for training at 6pm, an hour before the official start. “That was from day one and that’s the way it has to continue to be and that sends out a message to everybody that you’re setting a decent standard.
“Now, when I went in there first, it wasn’t like that. There’s no point in pretending otherwise. Fellas were arriving in 6:45, 6:50, tearing off clothes, throwing on a pair of boots, trying to get out on the field for 7 o’clock or two or three minutes past.
“We did away with that and we didn’t have to read the riot act. If we had to, we could as well but we didn’t have to do it because word spreads very quickly. You set the example, you set the tone and word filters down.”
Imagine those standards being extended to the man in the middle? If that is a stretch for some, then the uniform he wears. And if it can’t be done and understanding full well that the games can’t happen without that impartial adjudicator then what place is there for them in the GAA?
But actions have to come and sooner rather than later. The silence from the association’s leadership about the physical abuse of referees in recent weeks has sickened many officials at county level. “Nobody spoke for us,” said one organiser. “In a list of one to 10, referees are 11.”
It may be believed in officialdom that with county games programmes largely coming to a close and referees shortly due to receive their expenses at a time when the cost of living pressures are being felt so acutely that they won’t kick up a stink. But the anger remains palpable.
Talk of reviving the “Give Respect, Get Respect” initiative will be viewed dimly. Over 11 years in place, if the policy was successful the fruits of it would be reaped by now, but it fell down so badly in crucial areas. Handshakes between players at under-age level was a start but whose bright idea was it not to insist on the referees being included in the pre-match salutations?
Some practices have worked, though. This column has bemoaned the influence of Australian Rules in Gaelic football namely the advanced mark but aping the best and fairest individual players awards idea was a great move by the Celtic Challenge in 2016. Incentivising respect to match officials with performing well is something that should be encouraged across all levels.
There can never be enough positive reinforcements but assuming this crisis is going to be eased by relying on people’s good nature is ambitious. Rules can be unwritten and written so long as the perpetrators know that they are being punished or that the behaviour of those abusing referees and players is unacceptable.
Not for the first time, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have taken aim at the preseason competitions.
“If we could remove them and start the leagues a week earlier it would give another week's break,” said GPA chief executive Tom Parsons yesterday. “We have very few break periods in the season next year to deliver this new structure.
“I think we won't be able to answer that question until next year until the end of the season and we do another review. We will need to review with our players at the end of the season to see how did the whole package work.”
The GPA’s stance would have support among chief GAA fixture makers but the point made by provinces, that teams are going to be playing challenge games anyway and isn’t it better that they are local, has to be considered.
Perhaps, insisting on the competitions being either knockout or limited to two games for all bar the finalists might be one way to appease both groups.
At the same time, the structure of the Allianz Football League should be up for discussion since the timeframe at a wet time of the year is tight to say the least, puts excessive pressure on players and it has been impacted by the change to the format of the championship.
Divisive might be too heavy a word but there is no doubting that feelings about the underage grades are strong.
Former Cork manager Brian Cuthbert made his arguments for decoupling and support for a return to U18 in this newspaper last week and in “The Argus” this week Louth chairman and ex-senior boss Peter Fitzpatrick lays out a case against splitting underage and senior at U18.
“ Personally, I would not be in favour of U18s not being eligible to play ‘senior’ football for their clubs. We’ve a lot of clubs in Louth – and I’m sure it’s an issue throughout the country too – that are struggling and do depend on these young lads. I think it would be a big mistake to stop that.
“Plus, all this would do is to open up an avenue for other codes – like soccer and rugby – for players to go and play those sports instead of Gaelic games. I’m not saying they shouldn’t play those sports – not at all – but we, the GAA, have to make sure they get as much football as possible.
“To deny players the opportunity to represent their clubs and their parishes, I think that’s wrong. Like I made my senior debut for the Clans (Clan na Gael) when I was just 16 years of age. Now, there are some players who can play at 17 or 18 because they’re physical enough, but there are other players who mature at a later stage and we have to keep those involved.”
Denying the maturer players a chance to play for their clubs sounds over the top from Fitzpatrick when not only could they be doing just that and to an appropriate degree at minor level but an extra year’s wait for adult level could extend their careers. But obviously rural clubs are crying out for personnel.
When does a boy become a man? It seems that is the eternal question facing the GAA.
