Rules on ‘second-last chance saloon’
Association President Sean Kelly was again restrained in his reaction to what he described as 'particularly outlandish efforts at tackling,' saying that calls for the International Rules Series to be abandoned had been 'a knee-jerk reaction.'
The situation wasn't that serious to regard next year as 'the last chance saloon,' he said. It was more like 'the second-last chance.' Essentially, he was in no rush to condemn until he had carried out an in-depth review of the game, which the home side won by 21 points and 163-106 on aggregate (a new record).
"I think the Australians will be conscious that things went overboard. Nobody wants to see players going out getting injured or ending up in hospital. That's something we would not tolerate and I'm sure they would not tolerate it either,'' he said.
Johnson has since expressed remorse and accepts that he will be ruled out of next year's series in Ireland.
In relation to the rule which allows a replacement for a player who is red-carded, Mr Kelly indicated that the GAA would demand a change which would properly penalise a team. "There is need for a much stronger deterrent.''
"A 'proper deterrent' was crucial in terms of controlling games," he stressed, saying: "if guys think there is none, then obviously they will do things that maybe they wouldn't do in their own game. In many instances, the deterrents that are there at the present are not deterrents at all because you can have an over-run of players from one year to another. It's no real penalty not to play the following year and that's a weakness in the rules which we'll have to look at.
"I would be very unhappy going into next year's tour with the exact same rules on discipline as we have of now.''
The hostility of people at home to the concept was understandable, he said. It was the inevitable reaction to being 'confronted suddenly' with a violence they were not used to. However, he wouldn't accept that the solution was to abandon the tours.
"The series has grown and we have huge attendances in both Ireland and Australia (45,428 on Friday night, compared to a crowd of 16,021 in the city for an 'A League' soccer game between Melbourne and Adelaide). "It has been a fine spectacle when played in the right spirit and if we can return to that spectacle it can get even better."
Under the current agreement, they were contracted to tours up to 2010 and, said the President, as far as he is concerned, that wasn't going to change.
"People will support the game if they see there is a genuine effort to cut out on the unacceptable behaviour we have seen. Most people would be happy to give it another go if they see that there is a genuine effort to cut out the unacceptable behaviour we have seen. But, obviously in the long term if we have a repeat of that say next year, or possibly the year after the chorus to change it would grow and grow and would very difficult to stop.
Meanwhile, the Australian captain said he 'wouldn't ever' repeat his actions. "While I can get a bit heated at times, I never go around swinging the arms,'' he said. "It's something I deeply regret. I've never done something like that ever. The (disciplinary) tribunal is ahead of me, but almost certainly I won't be travelling to Ireland for next year's series."
Aware of complaints voiced by the Australian coach Kevin Sheedy after the game, the GAA President conceded that their players 'might' be open to criticism for some of the things which went on during the game.
Unofficially, the Irish players view what happened as largely the response from the home players after much improved tackling from the start put them under pressure for the first time in the series.
Sheedy, who has Cork and Clare connections and broke his leg playing in Croke Park in 1978 with a visiting Australian team revealed that his players complained about 'low- tackles'. However, he wasn't prepared to elaborate when asked if he was referring to the groin. "Work it out for yourselves," he retorted.
In his column in the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday, Sheedy said he 'had to restrain his assistants from getting involved when the game started to get 'fiery'. Jim Stynes 'wanted to fight his own countrymen while Robert Dipierdomenico best known as 'Dipper' 'was walking the sidelines like a caged gorilla.
"There might just have been one or two Irishmen tap-dancing on my players' feet and that might have got them a bit angry,'' wrote Sheedy.
"If you look at the Australian performance (overall), there was one Russ Robertson hip-and-shoulder in Perth (the tackle which almost hospitalised Tom Kelly, Ireland's outstanding player in both games). And there was five minutes of aggression in Melbourne. That's probably a few% of game time. So, let's not blow it out of proportion.'
His view was echoed by the AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou who regarded the series 'as an outstanding success.' Acknowledging that the Johnson incident wasn't pretty, he pointed out that it will be dealt with as it should be by the tribunal.
Sean Kelly didn't believe that the GAA could be criticised for not making a big issue in relation to a number of incidents in recent years, though he agreed that what happened in the Telstra Dome represented a drop in the standard of the last two series. "It was a return to some unacceptable behaviour that we hadn't seen for a while behaviour that would not be acceptable in our game and I'm not sure would not be accepted in the Australian game either.
"From the point of view of the series developing, there are certain things you can't do on a football field. And when we sit down with the Australians (next January) we will make them aware of it. Fair play and sportsmanship are what games are all about and that has to be seen to apply across the board every time.
"But you want time to reflect and look at the match video and not rush to condemn. And, if there are deficiencies, they need to be worked out between the two organisations so they won't occur again.''
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