Justice in GAA still no more than a joke

AFTER Sunday’s NHL game between Galway and Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds, I asked both managers what they felt about Wexford’s objection to having had to play Cork when both Kilkenny and Waterford, the two strongest teams in that group, were granted walkovers because of the dispute between the Cork players and their county board.

This was what Richie Bennis, Limerick’s straight-shooting manager, had to say, when I asked if Cork should have been allowed to play in the league: “The rule is there, isn’t it? If you give two walkovers you forfeit your league, it’s as simple as that.”

So it was unfair to Wexford, Dublin and Antrim, the three teams who had to play Cork? “I think so, if Cork met Kilkenny and Waterford they’d have been taking points off each other, that was unfair to the others.”

Galway’s Ger Loughnane took a different view: “I don’t take any notice of these complaints. I see Roscommon are complaining about Cork as well in football and they were beaten 4-20 to 0-8 by Armagh. For goodness sake, you go out there and battle away and you try to win it and you can’t be expecting to win anything in a boardroom — I should know that myself from about 10 years ago, that you definitely win nothing in a boardroom. You’re better off to try and win it on the field because it’s the only place you’ll get a result.

Two honestly held and expressed points of view from two dedicated GAA-men, and two opinions of equal validity. Which of them is right? Doesn’t matter; the point here is that it is a totally unnecessary debate, yet another mess created for themselves by the GAA.

From the very beginning the Cork players’ strike issue was badly handled by the GAA. The initial reaction from Croke Park was that this was a local issue, to be sorted locally. How stupid was that? Apart from the fact that Cork is one the major units of the GAA, one of its biggest earners at the gate, one of its biggest attractions, the Cork strike always had the potential to impact on other counties within the GAA.

Yet Croke Park sat back and waited, and watched, and waited, and watched, allowed the problem to fester and grow instead of coming in and tackling the crisis at birth, at source. Would they have made a difference? Absolutely; when they finally did move, the problem was soon enough sorted out, though it had grown far more serious, far more poisonous.

What the GAA did next was as stupid as its initial inaction. They allowed a second game postponement for both the hurlers and footballers when, if they were serious about applying sanction, if they were serious about implementing their own rules, they should have told Cork — ‘regardless of what players you have available to you, play your games this weekend or forfeit your league.’

Had they done that we would have no problem now, no discussion about whether Cork should or should not have been allowed play.

In its wisdom, however, Croke Park decided to allow the second postponement, and Cork were left with the impression that all was well and that the postponed games would be played. The powers that decide on these things, however, had other ideas. Cork, they decided, would have to be punished, so the two games for both the hurlers and footballers were declared walkovers — no points for Cork, the naughty children, two points awarded to Kilkenny and Waterford (hurling) along with Meath and Dublin (football). Well, that’s all fine and dandy lads, but what about the wider ramifications? Did anyone think beyond this point? As it happens, and leaving Cork out of the equation, Kilkenny and Waterford, Meath and Dublin, are the two strongest teams in their respective divisions. In handing them the Cork points, then leaving the rest of the teams in those divisions to take their chances against Cork, you were creating an immediate imbalance. Fair? Justice? I think not.

Kilkenny and Waterford offered to play Cork in the two free Sundays that came up immediately after the strike issue was resolved; instead of imposing their petty sanctions, Croke Park should have allowed those games go ahead, and that would have been the hurling situation sorted. As it transpires, no-one can have any complaints anyway, as the bottom three teams (Dublin, Wexford, Antrim) all played their full complement of games. The football? Neither Meath nor Dublin could have been mandated to play Cork (both were quite happy to accept the cheap committee-room points); with relegation such a crucial issue, what should be done here now is that if Cork are involved in the relegation battle and Dublin are not, any calculation of scoring difference should not include Dublin and Meath. But, GAA justice? An ongoing joke.

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